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More than two million users agree: the Fluke70 Series handheld digital multimeters are simply thebest. Theseoriginals have become classics. And thereasonsare simple. They are accurate and easy to use. Features made popular by the 70 Series-likefast autoranging, continuity beeper, and quick diode test-are now standards in the industry. O ther 70 Series features stand alone.T ouch Hold ,for exam ple, locksthe reading on thedisplayand signals youwithabeep. So you cankeepyour eyes on thecircuit and probes. The70 Series are builtwithout compromise. All current ranges are fUlly fused.The resistance function is overload protected to 500V. No detail has been overlooked in making these rugged and reliable meters the first choice of two million professionals. Made in the USA using state-of-the-art manufacturing methods, every F luke70 Series multim e ter is backedby a3-year warranty. Another first inthe industry.

est.
Choosingthe be st handheld multim eter is ple. Pickup theFluke70S eries at very sim your Flukedistributor today. O r call 180044-FLUKE, ext 33, for afree brochure.
John Auk' Mfg. Co.. Inc. P.O . Box 9090. Everell, W A98206. U .S.: (206) 356 5400. Canada: (416) 890 7600. Other countries: (206) 356 5500. 1990 John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Ad. no . 0701.f70

FROM THE WORLD LEADER IN DIGITALMULTIMETERS.

CIRCLE 121 ON FREE INFOR MATION CARD

December 1990
Vol. 61 No . 12

33 BENCHTOP FREQUENCY COUNTER

Build an inexpensive, full-function frequency counter.

Carl Bergquist 40 THE CHRISTMAS CARD

Our ~ I ectro n i c Christmas tree makes a bright holiday greeting!

Ron Holzwarth 48 TELEPHONE CALL SCREENER

Put an end to junk calls.

John G. Koller

PAGE 57

TECHNOLOGY
63 CHOOSING THE RIGHT TEST PROBE
It's important to know which probe meets your testing needs.

Bill Hansen

COMPU,.ERS
57 SUSIE
Simplify digital design using SUSIE, the Standard Universal Simulator for Improved Engineering.

TJ Byers 86 COMPUTER CONNECTION

An electronics-lab simulation program.

PAGE 63

Jeff Holtzman

Adve~ising and

Sales

6 VIDEO NEWS
What's new in this fastchanging field.

76 AUDIO UPDATE
The amplifier-transfer-function controversy.

Offices 100 Advertising Index 8 Ask RE 49 Free Information Card 16 Letters 91 Market Center 30 New Lit 26 New Products 4 What's News
0

David Lachenbruch 24 EQUIPMENT REPORTS

Radio Shack's Micronta Voice Meter.

Larry Klein 78 DRAWING BOARD

Keeping the DTMF-generator circuit simple.

Robert Grossblatt 8 1 IC SPOTLIGHT

Wh at's new in IC and systems development.

69 HARDWARE HACKER
Santa C laus machine upd ate, and morel

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'Tis t he season . ..when we all wrack our brains to come up w ith un ique gift ideas. This year, we 've made it easy, with a project that's right in the spirit of the holiday season. Our Electronic Christmas Tree is really a PC board whose traces form the branches . Mu lti -colored LE D 's look li k e Christmas-t ree lig hts, and blink in time with any kin d of audio. Turn to page 40 to see our festive project that makes a great ho liday greeting or window display. And if your wallet's feeling the pinch of holiday shopping, you'll appreciate our Benchtop Frequency Counter. Half the price of commercial models, it offers an impressive array of functions . The versatile , easy-to-use instrument is based on the Intersil ICM7216C. To find out mo re, turn .to page 33 .

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SCR[N YOURTfUPttOHE CAllS lUCTRONICAUr.

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DIGITAL

HU90 Gemsback (lB84-1967) founder M, Harvey Gemsback.

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Larry Steckler, EHF, CET . editor-in-chief and publisher EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Bri an C. Fenton, editor Marc Spiwak, as sociate ed itor Daniel Goodman, technical editor Kim Dunleavy, ass ista nt technical editor Terl Scaduto, ass istant editor Jeffrey K. Holtzman com puter e ditor Robert Grossblatt, circuits editor La rry Klein, a udio editor David Lachenbruch co ntributing e ditor Don La nca s t e r co ntributin g editor Ric ha rd D. Fitch contributin g ed itor Kathy Terenzl, editor ia l assistant ART DEPARTMENT Andre D uzant, art director Inj ae L_, illustra tor Ru ssell C. Truelson, illustrator P RO D UC T IO N DEPARTMENT Ruby M. Yee, prod uct ion director Janice Box, editoria l production Kare n S. Tucker ad verti s ing production Marcella Amoroso production a ssis ta nt CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT J acqueline P . Cheeseboro circ ulati on director Wen d y Alanko circulation a na lyst The resa Lombardo circulation assistant Michele Torrillo, reprint bookstore Typogra phy by Mates Graphics Cover photo by Dive rsified Photo Services Ra d i o Ele c t r o n ic s is inde xed in Appli ed Science & Technology Index a nd Readers Guide to Periodical tner-

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THE JANUARY ISSUE GOES ON SALE DECEMBER 4.

BUILD A MACINTOSH
Use an Apple motherboard to build your own Macintosh computer - for a fraction of what Apple charges.

RE' s E-Z SHORTWAVE RADIO

. Build it , th en modify it to receive any frequency that you're int erest ed in!

NEGATIVE-ION GENERATOR
Experiment with high-voltage electronics and the effects of negative ions.

BATTERI ES
A review of rechargeable-battery technology.

1990 ANNUAL INDEX

A co mpl ete list ing of our feature articles and departments.
As a service to readers , RADIO -ELECTRONICS pub lishe s available plans or informati on relati ng to newsw orthy products. techn iques and sc ienti fic and technological developmen ts. Because of possib le varianc es in the -quallty and condition of materials and workman ship used by readers . RADIOELECTRONI CS disclai ms any respons ibility fo r the safe and proper functio ning of reader-built projects based upon or from plans or infonnat ion publi shed in this magazine .

ature.
Microfi lm & Mic rofich e e d itio ns a re ava ilable . Conta ct circ ulat ion depa rt me nt for details. Adverti sing Sales Offices listed o n page 100.

Since some of the equipmentand circuitry described in RADIO-ELECTRONICS may relate to or be covered by U.S. patents, RADIO-ELECTRONICSdisclaimsany liabilityfor the infringement of such patents by the making, using, or selling ofany such
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equipment or circu it ry, and suggests th at anyone interested in such proj ects consult a patent att orney.

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RADIO-EL ECTRONICS, (ISSN00337862) December 1990, Published monthly by Gems back Publications. Inc" 5OO-B BiCounty Boul evard, Fanni ngdale, NY 11735 Second-Class Postage paid at Farmi ngdale, NY and additional mail ing offi ces. Second -Class mail registration No . 9242 authoriz ed at Toronto . Canada. On e-year subsc ription rate U.S.A. and pos sessions

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S17.97. Canada $23.97, all other countries $26,97, All subscriptionorders payable in U.SA funds only. viainternational postal money order or check drawn on a U.SA bank, Sin91e copies $2.95. 1990 byGemsbackPublications, Inc, Allriqhts reserved. Printed in U,SA POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to RADIO-ELECTRONICS. Subscription Dept.. Box 55115. Boulder, CO 8032151 15,
A sta mped self -addressed envelope must acc omp any all submitted manu scripts and/o r artw ork or photograph s if their return is desired should they be rejected . We disclaim any respon sibility for th e loss or damage of manus cript s and/ or artw ork or photographs whil e in our posse ss ion or otherwis e.

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COAX ADAPTER KIT

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WHAT'S NEWS
A review of the latest happenings in electronics.

The "new" NESDA The entire by-laws of the National Electronics Sales & Service Dealers Association (NESDA) were replaced with new ones at membership voting sessio ns held last Aug ust at the annu al N at ion al Profe s s iona l Elec troni cs Co nve ntio n (NPEO in Las Vegas, NV. Alt hough the rules were c ompl et e ly rewritten, t he ac tual changes in NESDA operations are _ _ few and m<JioIY_!rlvplve shittinq.core, trol from th e st ate to the national level. The new laws allow NESDA to control its own destiny as a national associatio n instead of being controlled by state organizations. Unde r the new rules, NESDA will control the billing of all members, but will encourage "Ass ociate" ven tures with regional, state, and local organizations. Local billing wi ll still be permitted und e r c ertain co n d i t io n s. Other changes that were made included replacing the NESDA House of Representatives and Regional Vice Presidents with a Board of Directo rs. Ele ct ions fo r sev eral position s were held at the convention , which was att ended by more than 600 people. Elected as president of NESDA was Cornelius C . ("Connie") Bell, retired owne r of C .C. Bell Electronics in St. Louis , MO . Bil l Warren , C ETI CSM , of Warren's Audio & Video Service of Knoxville, TN was elected vice president. The ten members of the Board of Direc tor s were also chosen . Intense laser beam Researche rs at Bell core (M iddletown Township, NJ) have discovered a way to focus 160 extreme ly small las er be ams into a sing le , powerful beam. Separately, each surface-emittin g laser is virtua lly invisible to the naked eye, measuring about one-tenth the diameter of a human hair, and does not generate enough power for useful applications. The energy that can be harnessed from the experimenta l arrays , o n the other hand, could be used on microchip s in optic al co mp ute rs and neural networks or possibly for creating holographic images.

DR. ROBERT TINKER (LEFT) , CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER OF TECHNICAL Education Research Cente rs, a non-p rofit organization committed to improving science and mathematics educ ation, was prese nted with the first Siemens Award for the Advancement of Science at the Computerworld Smithsonian awards event held at the National Building Museum in Washington , D.C. The innovat ive educator is credited with first introducing networked programs using computer technology into the science classroom . He has developed such influent ial programs as the National Geographic Kids Networ k, the Star Schools program , LabNet, and the Global Lab, which engages students , teachers, and scientists around the world in tackling ecological prob lems. According to Hans Decker (right), presiden t of Siemens Corporation, "Dr. Tinker's vision of children as scientists, tackling real world problems, make s him the ideal recipient of this award."

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When the microscopic lasers are packed close together. they each receive a uniform amount of electrical current and can " lase" in concert. Bellcore 's array consists of surfaceemitting lasers, which direct light up off the surface instead of honzontally, allowing many more lasers to be packed onto a single microchip . Accord ing to Hoi Jun Yoo, the principal researcher. "Since you can place lasers anywhere on the surface of a chip, you can make the best of available "chip real estate ." The small laser s require abo ut 10,000 tim es le ss spac e th an sem ic on duc to r lasers used in similar limited applications today. W hen etch ed onto a semiconductor in a special array of 160 2-microndiameter lasers spaced 0 .2-microns

apart (one micron equals a 40 -milIionth of an inch). the vertical beams of light generated blend wit h one another through a phenomenon called "phase locking, " whereby different optica l fields overlap to create the equivalent of one light source. The _ result is the creation of one extreme ly narrow beam. analogo us to several small streams feeding into a powerful river. The Bellcore experiment is the first time scientist s have managed to succe ssfu lly harn ess surfac e-emitting lase rs to fo rm a single laser light source. The research team is now working to integrate the prototype arrays with electronic devices that will be able to accuratel y contro l and steer the diR-E rection of the beam.

ELENCO & HITACHI PRODUCTS AT DISCOUNT PRICES

RSOs (Real-Time & Storage Oscilloscopes) From HITACHI ~ The RSO - its the new solution ~~ View, Acquire, Test, Transfer and Document Your Waveform Data 4-Channel. IOOMS/s Model Introductory Price 1001.4515 (25"15/5 on4 channels simultaneously), 1OOMHz, 4kw x 1ch., 2kw x 2ch., 1kw x 4<:h. VC6145 $ 4,695.00 Compact. Full Feature Models 401.4515, 100MHz, 4kw xicn., 2kw x 2ch. VC6045 $ 3,049.00 201.45/5, 50MHz,2kw x 2ch. VC6025 $ 2,295.00 Low Cost/High Value Models 20"15/5, 50"1Hz, 2kw x 2ch. VC6024 $ 2,049.00 VC-6023 $1,749.00 20"15/5, 20MHz, 2kw x 2ch. RSOs fromHitachifeatur esuch functions as roll mode, averaging,save memory, smoothing: interpolation, pretriggering, cursor measurement s, piotter interface, and RS-232C interface. With thecomfort of analogandthe power of digital.

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Whats new in the fast-changing video industry

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Who's No.2? Philips has ended as a sort of super-CD-provid ing have been more expensive than movZenith's long-time reign as one of the eight hours or more of audio . Al- ing-picture camcorders , and far more two largest suppliers of TV sets for though the new super-interactive disc costly than film cameras. Along comes Philips with a superthe American market. The Dutch - will be compat ible with existing laserowned company 's four American discs and players. it could have spe- idea. What's wrong with a combinabrands-Magnavox, Sylvania , Phi- cial e ncoded video and audio tio n movie-a nd-still camcorder? A camcorder made in Philips' Japanese lips, and Philco- aggregated 12.2% info rmation available on ly to those of America n TV sales in the 1990 with specia l players. Warne r says factory for the European semi-profesmodel year (mid-1 989 to mid-199m, that the super discs would use cur- sional market can make Super-VHS topp ing Zenith's 11 .65% to beco me rently available technology and the vide os and "h ig h-q ualit y ph o America's seco nd largest source of "LD + " players could cost less than tographic prints, " according to the TV's, according to the annual market $ 1,000 . Pioneer and Denon helped manufacturer. The camcorder uses a share survey conducted by Television develop the system , and they could % -inch CCD sensor with a resolution . oV700,OOO'plxels, and Isclaimea to - ---DIges t. Thoms on Consume r Elec - " lntroducesuper players- in 1991':'" deliver a picture with more than 450 tronics , a French-owned compa ny, cont inued to be far and awaythe lead- Li ghtvalve pro j ecti on T V . lines of horizontal resolution. Philips er, its RCA and GE brands aggregat- When Hughes Aircraft embraces a wi ll offe r a compan io n pr inte r. It ing 22.5% of the market. makes good sense to envision future product . it's usually a significant one. still -picture systems as add-ons to Philips' advance marked the first That's why the consumer-electronics time in the 23 years since the TV industry pricked up its radar with the movie camcorders, rather than separumor that Hughes has a TV set. rate products . Although Philips says Diges t survey has been conducted that the first two places weren't oc- Hughes is keeping its mouth shut on that it has no plans to offer the movie/ still camcorder in the United Stat es, cupied by the manufacturers of RCA this one, but it's known to be working and Zenith TV sets . Zenith is the only with Samsung, the Korean TV man- or as a consum er pro duc t, that major U.S.-owned TV-set manufac- ufacturer, on a new type of lightvalve seems to be a logical next step. turer, although some 20 companies TV projector. Althoug h both compahave U.S. TV assembly or manufac- nies say nothing has been signed yet, A government picture tube. turing plants. Strictly on the basis of there are some indications that a The Pentagon's Defense Advanced brand names (as opposed to man- home product could emerge early in Research Projects Agency (DA RPA) ufacturers), Zenith was still No .2, 1992. No details are available on the has awarded Zenith a contract to defollOWing RCA, and Magnavox was system , except that it uses a single velop its Flat Tension Mask (FTM) the th ird most pop ular brand , fo l- lightvalve in place of the traditional technology into a cost-efficient highlowed by Sony. cathode -ray tubes and that the light- definition picture tube. Zenith 's FTM valve isn't a liquid-crystal device, or system, currently used only for high Super -I nt e ract ivi ty. The ulti- LCD . The system is said to be capa- priced co mpu te r mo nito rs, has a mate in interactive laserdiscs has ble of providinq high-def init ion TV. com pletely flat window-glass faceplate, behind which is a shadow mask been demonstrated by Warner New This will be Hughes' second major Med ia, a part of Time Warner Inc. The foray into consumer electronics . Its held under tension, assuring better co lor rendition because the mask 12-inch disc will play for one hour per Sound Retrieval System (SRS) super side (as opposed to the 30 minutes stereo audio is used with Sony TV's doesn't expand. Reflections are also normally associated with interactive and is expected to be added to high- held to a minimum because the faceplate is absolutely flat and the glass is discs). It can accommodate four si- end RCA TV 's within the next year. treated with a special coating. The multaneous video tracks with four segovernment contract is designed to lectable audio tracks. for a tota l of 16 Still/mot ion cam cord e r. fund a major cost reduction in the combinations. In one suggested ap- Quite possibly the biggest flop of the plication , a viewer could select any of video era is the still-video camera. new tube. Zenith maintains that the fo ur different views of the same The reasons for its failure are easy to phosphors on the tubes can be event, with constant audio. The sys- understand . Who would pay $600 to printed by a silk-screening process, tem can display subtitles in up to 15 $1,000 and more for a still camera as opposed to the extremely expenwith low resolution and no practical sive photographic system currently 8 different languages. used for color tubes. If Zenith sucz In addition to the main digital ster- system for making prints? Although eo channels, it can have 16-channel st ill-video cameras have been suc- ceeds in fulfilling the Pentagon co nb sound. The channels are mixable- cessful in newspa per photography t ract , it sho uld res ult in a major ~ for example, each channel could have because the pictures can be trans- improvement in picture tubes, lower UJ o a different instr ument of the or- mitted by telephone, they have failed cos ts, and, eventually, a new type of R-E o chestra. The videodisc could be used to impress consumers because they high-definition display. a:

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CIRCLE 185 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

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ASK R-E

Write to Ask R-E, Radio-Electronics, 500-B Bi-County Blvd., Farmingdale, NY 11735

VOLTAGE CONVERTERS

I have a bunch of tools and some stereo equipment that was designed to run on the standard European supply of 220 volts, 50-Hz AC. Isn't there some 'w a y I can easily make, buy, or otherwise acquire a transformer that will let me operate those devices off 120 volts, 60-Hz AC?-A. Sfakianos Placitas, NM
There are lots of places to get transformers that turn 220 volts AC into 110 volts AC, and they should work when their supply connections are reversed as well, but only for the voltage, not the frequency. You indicated in your letter that the frequency difference wasn't important for the equipment you wanted to use so I don't understand why you're having so much trouble . There are two basic types of com mercially available converters used for converting 220 volts AC to 110 volts AC, and they're sold in just about every electronics store; even Radio Shack carries them. With a transformer I use , I can turn the supply leads around and step up the line voltage from 110volts AC to 220 volts AC (actually 120 to 240), There isn't any problem in doing that as long as you make sure you have the right type of voltage converter. Converters are made w ith either transformers or diodes . You can tell the difference between them when you 're looking at the package by the weight and the wattage rating . Transformer-based converters are much heavier than the diode-based ones and usually have a maximum rating of about 50 watts or so. The package information should list them as being suitable for electronic equipment , battery chargers, camera flash units, and so on. Since there's a transformer inside the package, the voltage is actually divided in half, (or doubled, when you use it backwards), The output of those converters is a sinusoid . Diode-based converters are much lighter, and even though the package

is the same size, they usually have a maximum rating of 1000 or 1500 watts. You'll find them recommended for things like heaters, lamps, and so on. If you try and use one of those appliances with a transformer operated converter, you'll probably wind up destroying both the converter and whatever you have plugged into it. With the diode-based converters , you can 't turn them around and expect to double the input voltage . Generally, diode-based converters only produce half-wave rectified AC instead of a full sine wave, and they don't cut the voltage in half either. As with any diode voltage drop circu it, the output is '.67 times the input volt age . If you put 220 volts AC across the input, you're going to get about 148 volts AC at the output. That may not be much of a problem for most resistive loads , but you should realize , that overdriving a heater is going to make it hotter than it was designed to be and that can cause a real problem.
ALARM SYSTEM BACKUP

you're only looking for 100 milliamps, you can keep it simple and the backup circuit can be made so small you 'll be able to easily find room for it in your existing enclosure. The circuit shown in Fig. 1 is a simple design that can do the job. When the line voltage is available and operating, D2 is reverse-biased and current flows into the batteries through R1 , the current limiter for the nickelcadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries, or whatever typ e of rechargeable batt ery you want to use. If the main power is disconnected Cinadvertently by you or intentionally by a burglar), D2 is forward-biased and battery power is available for the alarm circuit. By adding D1 to the circuit, you can keep the battery from powering other circuitry that's not essential to keeping the alarm system active.
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I've designed an alarm circuit for my house that's powered by line voltage but I want it to switch over to backup batteries if and when the power fails. The control part of the circuit is the only section that has to be constantly powered. I'm not worried about lights and other high current devices since I have a commercial unit for that part of the system. Do you have a simple circuit that can provide the battery backup? I only need 100 milliamps or so.-G. Benjamin Indianapolis, IN
Having a fail-safe power-supply for a home alarm system is a good idea and, if you think of it, is probably the most important part of the alarm system . Fortunately, it's also one of the easiest things to add to the circuit. In your case, it's even easier, since you designed the alarm-control circuit yourself. There are several ways to add a battery backup to a circuit, but since

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The particular diode you should use for D2 depends on the amount of power you want to draw from the battery when the main power is disconnectedlf you 're sure that you'll never need more than 100 milliamps, you can probably get by with a sm all 1N914 diode but, if there's a chance you might draw more current, or you just want to play it safe, you're better off with something like a 1N4001 . If you use Ni-Cd batteries , you 'll need a constant trickle-charging current. You should select R1 to limit the charging current to the battery's C/10 rat ing, which is 10% of the ca-

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Its no fluke.

pacity of the battery. In a C/10 rating , " C " is the charge capaci ty in ampho urs , and "1 0" is t he number of hours the battery can supply useful powe r. Therefo re, the capac ity divided by that operating interval equa ls t he maximu m c urre nt safe ly drawn from or supplied to th e battery. The t rick le c ur rent c harge , Ic' must be less than or equal to the maxim um safe current drawn thro ugh the battery. . The value of R1 can easi ly be calculated using R1 = [(Vc- (O. 6 volts + Vb)]/Ic w here V e is the circuit vo ltage, Vb is th e battery vo ltage , and Ie is th e charging current. This is just a stra ight app lication of Ohm's Law. The reason it see ms more co mplex is that yo u have to subtr act the 0. 6 vo lt-diode drop and battery vo ltage from the supply vo ltage . The capacitor in the circui t is used to filt er any voltag e glitches and also to provide a few seco nds of powe r if yo u want to change batteries .
TWO HARD DISKS

B uildingthe best DMM for the money is no accident The new RMS225 was carefully designed to give you what you wanted at a price you couldafford. Visit yourlocaldistributor today andyou'll agree the choice is obvious.
Fluke Model 77

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I have an AT -class computer with a hard disk and am trying to add a second hard d isk. The c ontroller card can work with two hard disks, but I'm not h a v in g any luck connecting t he cables. No matter what I d o , the computer never recogni ze s the second hard disk.W. Meredith Philadelphia, PA
If yo u're installing the second drive simply to increase capacity, maybe you should co nsider buying a single new hard drive wit h at least do uble t he me mory of yo ur prese nt one. Not only w ill that give yo u extra roo m inside yo ur cabinet for ot her add-o ns such as tape drives, but you might also be nefit fr om increased ove rall ope rati ng spee d-you r old drive may not be as fast as the newer ones . You can keep your old drive fo r emergency back up, or yo u can se ll your old drive to so meo ne w ho doesn't have o ne. However, if you' re determined to add a second drive, read on. In orde r to have two hard disks in yo ur computer, you have to tell the co mp uter t he second hard disk is t here and then you have to cable it so th e co mputer can find it. Since you have an AT comp uter, you have to run the setup utility and set the co rrect type for the second

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hard disk. How t hat is done depends on the BIOS yo u have since some of the m have the setup utility in ROM wh ile others require that you run a program on a disk, such as the IBM AT diag nostics . Be sure and set the type correct ly since an incorrect number there can damage the hard drive. Once you have that done, you have to phys ically connect the drive to the computer and th at invo lves four th ings: 1. A power cable has to be co nnected to the drive. 2. A separate data cable (the thin one) has to be connected from the contro ller card to the drive . 3. The control cable (the fat one) has to be connected to the drive. 4. The drive se lect jumpe rs on the back of t he hard drive have to be set to match the type of con tro l cable yo u're using. The first two operations are simple and ju st about the only thing you have to watch out for is the cable's orientatio n. Pin 1 on the co ntro ller card has to be co nnected to pin 1on the drive 's edge connector. The last two items on the list go toget her s ince the d rive se lect jumper on the back of t he disk has to be set accord ing to the type of co ntro l cab le yo u're using. The first hard disk in the system, (yo ur origina l one) , sho uld be attached to the co nnecto r at the end of the co ntro l cab le and the second hard disk, (yo ur new one), should be attached to the connector in the middle of the cable . If there's a twi st in the w ires between t he connectors fo r t he two hard disks , the drive select jumpers for both hard disks shou ld be set in th e seco nd positio n (somet imes marked as DS2J If there 's no twist in the cab le, t he drive at the end (your original one) shou ld have the jumper set in the first position and the drive in the midd le of the cable, (your new one), sho uld have the jumper in the second position. The term inating resistor shou ld be removed from the new drive in the midd le of the cable and left on the original drive at the end of the cable . If you can't find the term inating resistor or have a hard time try ing to remove it, do n't worry abo ut it. I've see n several machines in wh ich both drives had the terminating resistors left in R-E and everything worked fine.

CIRCLE 98 ON FREE INFORMATION CAR D

14

Coun.ersurYeilla ce
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Never before has so much professional in formation on the ar t of detecting and eliminating electronic snooping devices-and how to defend against experienced information thieves-been placed in one VHS video. If you are a Fortune 500 CEO, an executive in any hi-tech industry, or a novice seeking entry into an honorable, rewarding field of work in countersurveillance, you must view this video presentation again and again.
\~lke np! You may be th e vict im of stolen word s-precious ideas that would have mad e you very wealt hy ! Yes, professionals, even rank ama teurs , may be list enin g to yo ur most pri vat e co n versations. \Vake IIpi If you are not th e vict im, then you are surrounded by countless victims who need your help if you k now how to discover telephone ta ps, locate bugs, or "sweep" a room clean . Th ere is a thriving professional service steeped in high -tech techniqu es that you can become a parr of! But first , you mu st kno w and und erstand Countersurveilance Techno logy. Your very first insight into this highly rewarding field is made possib le by a video VHS presentation that you cannot view on broad cast television, satellite, or cab le. It presents an inform ati ve pro gram pr epared by professiona ls in the field who kno w th eir industry, its techniques, kinks and loopholes. Men who can tell you more in 4 5 minutes in a st raig htforward , exclusive talk th an was ever attempted before.

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what was to be an em bassy and private residence into the most sophist icated recor d in g s t ud io th e wo rl d ha d eve r kno wn. T he build in g had to be to rn down in order to remove all th e bugs. Stol en Info rmat ion The open taps from where th e inform ation pours our may be from FAX's, computer comm unicatio ns, teleph one calls, and everyday bu siness m eeting s a nd lun chtime encounte rs. Businessmen need counselling on how to elim inate this inform ation d rain . Basic teleph one use coupled wit h t he user's under stand ing th at someo ne may be listeni ng or record ing vital data and inform ation grea tly red uces th e opport un ity for ot hers to purlo in meaningful informati on .

Foiling I n for m ation Thieves Dis cover the targe ts professi on al snoopers seek out ! T he prey are stock b rokers , arbit rage firms, manufacturers, hi gh -tech com panies, a ny compet it ive industry, or even small bu sinn esses in the same com m unity. The valuable information th ey filch may be mark eti ng strateg ies, customer lists, p rod uct formulas, manu facturing techn iques, even advertis ing plan s. Informa tio n thi eves eavesd rop on cour t d ec i sions, b idd in g inform ati on, financial data. T he list is unlimited i n th e m ind of man- especially if he is a thi ef! You kno w that th e R ussians secretly in stall ed countless mi croph ones in th e concrete work of the Ame rican Embassy building in Mosc ow. Th ey converted

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LETTERS
Write to Letters, Radio-Electronics, 500-B Bi-County Blvd., Farmingdale, NY 11735

LOGIC ANALYZER REANALYZED The review of the Photronics lowcost logic analyzer (Editor 's Workbench , Radio-Electronics , August 1990) doe s a terrib le injustice to the product in stating that its "low speed " and " 8-bit operation " are insufficient. That fact is that its speed and data w idth are usually more tha n adequate for the app lication areas fo r which it was des igned . The LA1 is primarily intended for digital troubleshooting in areas that require more than a dual-trace oscilloscope, a digital voltmeter, and a logic probe whi le not requiring the power, expense , and complexity of a typical logic analyzer designed for microprocessor applications . W hen an actua l situation places the designer in that predicament, t he need for a medial solution becomes obvious. A few examp les that prompted the desig n of the LA 1 are stepper-motor logic circuits , remote-control circuits using the popular 40-kHz IR encoding , and countless applications in the non-mic roprocessor prot otype c ircu its breadboarded by the professional as well as hobbyists and stude nts . Ma ny of those applications do not require all e ig ht data chan ne ls or the ful l bandwidth of the LA 1. Perhaps the label " logic analyzer" automatically conjures.up the tho ught of complex, high-speed , wide-bus microprocessor analysis; nonetheless, that is the most appropriate labe l for the LA 1, which completely accomplishes its design goal by introducing a co st-effect ive means of obtain ing that worthy capabi lity at the othe r end of t he spectrum . DALE NASSAR PRESID ENT, PHO TRON ICS Amite, LA Perhaps I should have said "insuffi cient for the things people normally ~ use logic analyzers for; " which does z not include IR decoding , stepper~ motor circuits , and so on . I liked the device quite well as a teaching aid, ~ but I remain skeptical of its utility outside the educatio nal environment. That is not to denigrate the device ; a <l:: a: balanced review must point out both

the strengths and the limitations of a product.-Jeff Holtzman. Computer Editor

CAB LE SC RAMBLING I read with interest Robert Grossblatt's Drawing Board co lumn, entit led " Sc rambling and Macrovision ." in the Ju ly issue of RadioElectronics. I am only sorry that , as a new subscriber, I have missed some very important information in earlier issue s. However, havinq worked for the " Pho ne Factory " for a number of years before retiring, I am we ll acquainted w ith COAM (cust omer owned and mai nta ined) equipme nt and the pitfal ls of t he "rules. " W ith dives titure, as Mr. Grossblatt said, we ca n now co nnect "most anything" to the line on the COAM side of the RJ block-as long as it doesn 't " upset" or int erfere with the net work. Cab le TV, as a franchised company, should operate under the same rules . If they do not want a channel to be avai lable to me, then they shou ldn't put it on the network to begin with. The power company doesn 't say that yo u have to pay higher rates if you have a microwave oven, hair dryer, TV, etc ., and I see no reason for any utility to have specia l concessions. So if they don't want me to have what is on the network, then don 't provide it and trap it out-make me the responsible party, not them. DELBERT McMULLEN Independence, MO THE "LONG RANGER" I am responding to t he ar tic le " W hatever Happened to AM Radio?" (Rad io -Electron ics, September 199m. After 38 years as a sma ll-market chief engineer and announcer, I feel I have so me understandi ng of AM/FM radio . A new business climate exists to day. Most busines s firms in this rural area are chain outfits . They advertise litt le on radio, FM or A M . Ten years ago almost all were Mo m-and -Pop concerns and, though some did n't

co nt ribute heavily, nearly all advertised. TV and cable were no competition for co mmercials then or now. But they have captured a large portion of the audience . To day, the week ly newspapers, shoppers' quides, and sales flyers get the bulk of advertising do llars . There are too many AM stations , especially at night. We can receive a half dozen that are relatively free from interference. But one picture is worth a thousand words, so we watch TV at night. And some areas have too many station s, in the day and evening. The National Association of Broad caster's (NA B) grand scheme to institute the National Radio Sys tems Comm ittee's (N RSC) pre-emphasis to AM is largely a wi ld idea, in my op inion, and w ill cause add itional interference (albeit some improvem ent in the cheap sets with poor audio quality) . The plan is to change back in the fut ure, removing pre-emphasis . Why not attack the prob lem head on? Yes, even manufacture our own rece ivers if the Japanese won't coo perate . We have the know-how, the facilities, and plentiful parts . AM rad io , as we o ld- timers remember it, is gone . But with some prudent managing it is far from dead. In fact, we just might see an AM resurgence in the future-it is definitely the long ranger! GENE V INS ON Thomasville, A L
MORE ON AM RADIO Mr. Dexter's art icle abo ut the prob lems facing AM radio co ntained a serious tec hnica l error. Mr. D ext er wrote that AM transmissions are limited to a bandwidth of 10kHz, and an audio response upper limit of 5 kHz. Actually, the FCC has always allowed AM stations to transm it audio out to 15 kHz (the same as FM radio), with a corresponding RF bandwidth of 30 kHz. AM radio 's poo r sound quality is because almost all AM receivers have a 10-kHz bandwidth , limiting rece ived audio respo nse to 5 kHz . Wh en broadcasting began, there was no such thi ng as "high fide lity."

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Many AM stations used standard te lephone lines, w hic h have upper limits of 5 kHz, to send audio from the studio to the transmitter. AM radios were built with narrow bandwidth IF filters to minimize interference. Even when high fide lity was introduced in the 1950 's and 1960's, AM stat ions still used standard phone lines to link the stud io with the transmitter. In the 1980's , almost all stations converted to high-fideli ty 15-kHz te lepho ne lines, but A M radios were still built with narrow bandwidths, due to the added expense entailed in a "wideband" option . The standards proposed by t he NRSC are inte nded as a comprom ise between interference and aud io fidelity. Under the plan. A M stations wi ll limit audio response to 10 kHz, thus limiting RF bandwidth to 20 kHz. The improvement in so und quality involves AM radios, wh ich w ill be built with a "wideband" function that will receive the entire 1O-kHz audio signal. As mentioned in the art icle, AM broadcasts will be pre -emphasized and "wideband" AM radios will have a correspondi ng de-emphasis curve , reducing noise while keeping audio response flat out to 10 kHz . Although not quite the .equal of FM radio 's 15kHz audio response, wide band A M comes very close to matc hing FM 's sound, and will dramatically improve the public's enjoyment of music broadcasts on AM radio . Although I am only 16 years old, I have devoted much t ime to the study of radio, especially A M radio . MATIHEW BAILEY

we re omitted from that category, although they were common ly found on board ships where the principle power source was 115 VDC. The arc signals were characterized by a much smoother wave band than spark sets, and were preferred by ship operators . They also were much more efficient than spark sets . (A sketch of such a device appears in Fig. 1J

+115VOC

cr:r' W:F--l-.-_-'
SPARK GAP L2
'="

S1

FIG. 1-THIS CIRCUITSHOWSan arc-generator, which wC!s used on -board ships where the primary power source was 115 volts DC.

Also on page 69 is a reference to using a Ford Model A ignition coil for a spark source of power. That is apparently an oversight, since the coils in demand were the vibrator-driven, type t hat we re fou nd o n the Ford M odel T. FRA NK J. BURRIS Fallbrook. CA
BUILD A RESISTANCE STANDARD

Stone Mountain, GA
A VOICE OF EXPERIENCE

Ra d io- Elect ronics certainly fills a gap in the information world, not only for the novice who is anxiously pursuing the fascinating and useful study of electron ics, but also for keepi ng more experienced readers posted. In addition, t he magazine provides recreation in the form of co nstruction projects, featuri ng unique and useful devices for us to build. I have a suggestion to offer regard~ ing the exce llent series called " lntroz duction to Microwave Techno logy" @ by Joseph J. Carr. In the September G issue. on page 69 , it states that the ~ three traditional methods for generatw ing RF energy were spark gaps, Ale xo ande rso n alterna tors, and vacuum C? tubes . It appears that arc generators

A "sta ndard resistance " value is a necessity for a calibration laboratory. However. those certified standards can represent a sizable investment. If you are performing calibration services in t he field as.a secondary function , buy ing a " standard " ca n be diff icult to justify. However, there is a way in which a "resistance sta ndard" can be designed . fabricated , and certified for a nominal sum . First, select the value of resistance that you need most, and then obtain a precision resistor of that value. That resistor should be a 1%-or-bett er tolerance component. Verify the true resista nce of the device on a certi fied inst rument that is at least te n times the accuracy of the res istor. That reading . taken between 72F and 78F, becomes the " cert ified value ." For examp le, I made a 1.62-kilohm resistor standard . I used a Dale 50 watt, 1%, wire-wound resistor as a "standard" value, and verified its true value with a 4Y2-digit DM M certified to have a 0.1% 2 LSD (least signifi cant digit) error factor on the 0-2kilohm range. The test leads were "zeroed" to eliminate their resis-

tance fro m influencing t he readings. The ambient temperature on the surface of the component was verified to be 75F. I made a series of 10 individual resistance measurements at 10minute intervals , which prevented the co mponent's value from changing due to internal heat ing caused by current from the measuring instrument flowing through the resistor. That change cou ld be 1-2 ohms in a less expensive resistor but , since we are building a "certified standard, " the marked value should be as accurate as possible. The ten readings were identica l: The resistor proved to have an value of 1617 ohms . That is within the 1% to lerance spec ified. The value derived by the use of the precision ohmmeter is the "true" or " cert ified" resistance of the component. The "nominal " value is 1620 ohms . Now that the numerical values have been estab lished, we can pack age the unit. Because it is a " t raveling standard " we cannot always control the environme nt in which it w ill be used . We must provide a thermal mass to surro und the resistor, and thereby act as a temperature stabilizer. Encasing the resistor in a the rmal insulating compound prevents a sudden change of environmental t emperature from affecti ng the measured value of t he resistor. I so ldered two # 16 insulated leads soldered to the resistor, and lowered it into a mold cavity (an empty Spam can sp rayed w ith mold release). I placed the resistor in the center of the cavity and used a casting resin to fill the mold. The resin took two hours to set and 24 hours to cure . Once the casting was removed form the mold, I repeated the initial resistance readings to ensure that the value of the resistor had remained constant. After performing the sec ond resistance verification , I drilled two mount ing holes throug h the casting. I bolted the cast ing into a small cabinet and sealed the enclosure with rivets . My new traveling resis tance "standard " is marked : "R ESISTANC E STANDARD." "NOMINAL VALU E-1 .62K @ 1%" " C ERT I FI ED VALUE-1 , 6 17 OHMS @ .185%" "(Certified in therma l isolation mass at 75F)" CHA RLES H. STURK EY Newhall. CT

22

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sing a digita l multimeter isn't a difficult thi ng to do-or at least it s hou ldn't be . O n a bench top, that may be tr ue. But in the real world o f field measurements , using a multi meter can often try your patience-and your balance . Some of us have not-too-fond me mories of measurem ent s made on top of a ladder or catwa lk, w ith half of o ur bodies reaching for the test points and t he other half simultaneously stretching toward t he meter to read its disp lay. Others can relate to maki ng underdas h a utomo t ive m eas u re ment s where it's difficult to get yo ur head positioned to see where you put the multimeter probes, let alone see the display. Of co ur se , multi met er manufacturers are mo re t han happy to find solutions to the problems that their users encounter. We've seen severa l tec hniques t hat are used to freeze the disp lay and hold a reading of inte rest. Whil e they wo rk we ll, and are a perfect so lut ion for many situat ions , they all share one feature that is a failing in ot her situations: You have to . look at the display to determi ne the reading. Radio Shack (700 One Tandy Ce nter, Fo rt W o rt h Texas 76102, and more than 70 00 loc at io ns nationwide) has co me up with a different so lution : the ir Micronta Voice Me ter. At the push of a probe-mounted button, the meter announces the measurement in a clear voice . The Voice Meter does n't look much different from many other digital mult imet ers. Its gray plastic case measures roughly 7 x 3 x 1Y4 inches, and feat ures a 3%-digit (3000-countl LCD readout, a power switch , and a six-position rotary function-selector. The six meas urement fu nctions are: DC vo lts, AC vo lts, diode check, resista nce , DC current, and AC current. DC and AC vo ltages are measured in five and four ranges respectively: 3000 volts with a reso lution of 1 vo lt; 300 vo lts w it h a reso lutio n of 0.1 vo lt; 30 volts with a reso lution of 0.01 vo lt;

3 vo lts with a resol ution of .001 vo lt; and (fo r DC only) 300 millivolt s w ith a reso lution of 0 .1 mV. Resistance is measured over six ranges , from 300 ohms t hrough 30 megohms, with resolut ions that range from 0.1 ohms in the 300-ohm ran ge t o 10 K in th e 30 -mego hm range. DC and AC current are measured in a sing le range of 300 milliamps, with a resolution of 0 .1 milliamp. Using the Voice Meteris n't significant ly different fro m using standers multimeters. In fact , you don 't have to use the voice feature if you choose not to . If you do choose the voice feature, getting the meter to speak is as simp le as pressing a but to n on the pos itive probe . Unfo rtunately, if you need the voice capability, you must use th e probe s upp lied with the meter. Whil e we initially found the voice to be a novelty, it quickly got on ou r ne rv es wh en we made repeated me asurem ents . Despite the Voice Meter's clea r, slow, easy-to-understand voic e , w e preferred s imp ly glanc ing at the mete r when making most measurement s becau se it was

faster and quieter. (No vo lume control is provided on the meter), However, for our tests where we cou ldn't see the meter's face , the voice, of course , proved invaluable. The Voice Meter is powered by fou r "AA" batt eries. Wh en the batterie s are low, a BATT annu ncia to r makes you aware of the fact. If you don 't notice it, you will be prompted by an insistent "Replace batteries" announcement whe n you t ry to get a vo ice reading. Our overa ll impression of Radi o Shack's talking multitester was favorable . The only feature we didn 't like was that the test probes don 't offer shea t hed banana plugs -an impo rtan t sa fety cons ide ration w hen yo u're maki ng high-vo ltage measure ments . Although we liked the meter, we doub t it w ill find favor in professional circ les . Most profess io nal usersexcept those w ho really need voice capability-wil l want more features, ruggedness , and higher accuracy. However, most of those professionals w ill find the $99.95 Voice Metera perfect additio n to their hom e workbench . R-E

WITH CIE,
THE WORLD OF ELECTRONICS CANBEYOUR WORLD, TOO.
ook a t the w orld as it was 20 years ago and a s it is today. Now , try to na m e another field that's grown faster in those 20 y ears than electronics. Everywhere you look you'll find electronics in action. In industry, a erospace, business , medicine, science, government communicationsyou name it. And as mgh technology grows, electronics will g row . Which means few other fields, if any, offer m ore career opportunities, more job security, more roo m for a dvancement-if you have the right skills.

such study demands. Programs that give you the theory you ne ed backe d with practical experience using som e of the m ost sop histicated electronics tools available anywhere, including our Microprocessor Tra ining La boratory with 4K of random access m emory . Of course, if you ev er have a question or problem, our instructors are only a phone call away.

START WHERE YOU WANT, GO AS FAR AS YOU WANT.

CIE's broad range of entry, intermediate, and advanced level courses in a variety of career areas g ives you m a ny options. Sta rt with the Career Course that best suits y our ta lents and interests a nd go a s far as you want-all the way, if you wish, to y our Associate in Ap p lied Science Degree in Electronics Engineering Technology. But wherever you start, the time to start is now. Simply use the coupon below to send for y our FREE CIE catalog and com p lete package of career information. Or phone us, toll-free, at 1-80D-321-2155 (in Ohio, 1-800-523-9109). Don 't wait ask for your free catalog now . After all, there's a whole w orld of electronics out there waiting for y ou,

SPECIALISTS NEED SPECIALIZED TRAINING.

It stands to reason that y ou leam a nything best fro m a specialist a nd CIE is the largest independent home study school spec ia lizing exclusiv ely in electronics, with a r ecord that speaks for itself. According to a recent survey, 92% of CIE graduates are employed in electronics or a closely related field. When you're inv esting y our time and money, you deserve results like that .

Cleveland Institute of Electronics, Inc.

1776 E a s t 17th S t r e e t . C le v e la n d , O ru o 44114

CIE

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PORTABLE REAL-TIME OSCILLO SCOPE . T h e model 2252 progra mmable

1OO-M Hz-bandw id t h os ci lloscope f rom Tektron ix provides the precision , versatility. and ease-of-use of an analog scope, plus the ability to record th e displayed signal on paper at the push of a button . The ful ly automated o sc illo scope ensures measureme nt acc uracy wit h its integrated digital volt met er, " Smart Cursors ," and precision counter/timer. The scope also features four channels, automatic setup, and dual t ime bases . Fully programmab le over the standard IEEE-488.2 interface bus . the instrument can be controlled remotely from a PC . A u niq ue se q uen t ia lsamp ling t e chniqu e d igitizes a repetitive signal for hardcopy output on an Epson-compatible printer. A ll displayed channels , sca le fac to rs , and active measurements can be tran sferred to the printer via a Centronics interface. Test results can be quickly documented, or unknown signals can be recorded for later review. All oscilloscope functions, including instrument setup, signa l acqu isition,

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and measu rement controls . are accessible over the standard GPIB. The interface and computer analysis make automated and repetitive testing applications easier and less time consumi ng than many othe r met hods . The sco pe is supported by test-development software from Tektronix. The 2252 provides a full comp lemen t of automatic measurements . The vo lt meter inc lud e s "Smart Cursors ," which automatically track changes in voltage measurements and Vis ua lly indic at e s w here meas urements are bei ng made on the waveform. The 200 -MHz counter/ time r delivers crystal-control led, 10 parts per million

accuracy for timi ng mea sureme nts su ch as automat ic ris e/ fall t im e and propagation delay calculations . All measu rements are made on the real-time analog signal. With its time averaging cou nter, the scope is capable of up to 1O-picosecond t iming reso lution at any sweep speed . Vo ltage measurements made using the voltmeter have better than 10-bit vertical acc uracy. Gated measurements can be made on any portion of the signal. The 22 52 real-time os cillo sco pe , includ ing both Ce ntro nics and GPIB interfaces , has a list price of $3,495 .00-Tektronix , PO. Box 1700 , Beaverton , OR 970 7 5 ; Te l: 1-800426-2200.

The pen is easy to use . Norma l writing pressu re opens the tip and starts the flow of overcoat. Traces as narrow as Yi6 inch are possible, and the pen contain s enough coating materiala polymer that is available in several color s and clear-to insulate and protect approximate ly 60 feet of exposed traces . The mate rial dries in 5-10 minutes and can be heat cured at 50C-100C for enhanced performance . Ma ximum working temperature is 200 C . The wide tempera ture rang e pe rm its both spot so lder mask for in-line soldering operations and a durable overcoating for so lder-mask repair of open traces and exposed con nection s after sol dering . The overcoating is safe for go ld , si lver, co ppe r, and solder alloys, and is flexible when cured. The 3300 Circuit Work s Overcoat Pen costs $9 .95 plus shipping ($1.00 U.S . Ma il or $2 .50 U PS ) Planned Products, 30 3 Potre ro , Suite 53 , Sant a Cruz , CA 95060; Tel: 408459 -8088 ; Fa x: 408459-0426.

AUTORANGING DIGITAL MULTIMETER. Designed for convenient te st ing and troub les hoot ing , B&K-Precision 's model 2701 aut o ranging DMM has a belt-clip and te st-lead clips built into its case for hand s-fre e use and safe storage of probe s . The comp act , hand-held multimeter allows Single-hand ed o perat io n in hard -to reach locations. It can be used to test AC and DC voltage and current, as we ll

SOLDER-MASK REPAIR PEN. An easy way to insu(J)

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wh ile it protects aga inst moisture. abrasion . chemicals and other environmenta l haza rd s . Particularly usefu l in the des ign, prototyping, and repair of PC boards , the overcoat pen improves the reliability and safety of mod ifications w hen used to repair solder masks .

26

FREON-GAS ANTIDUST SPRAY. Containing

no C FC's , Dus t-A -Way from Jensen Tools removes dus t, lint , and other fore ign particles from delicate equ ipment with no risk to the ozone. Depressing the trigger valve on the 12-ounce ca n de livers a qu ick burst of dry" inert freo n gas prec ise ly where it is needed. The spray is recom mended for use on electrica l. electron ic, op t ica l, and de licate mechanical devices . Dust-A-Way f reo n gas

spray costs $7 .95 for a 12ounce can.-Jensen Tools Inc. , 78 15 South 46th Street, Phoen ix, AZ 85044 .

RACK-MOUNT LINE CONDITIONER. Providing

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as fo r resista nce , diode, and co ntinuity checks . The 2701 has a 3Y2-digit LCD. It s functions include autoranging, "H igh" and " Low" p ow e r-o h m s-;- and-d at a hold. A 9-vo lt battery prov ides 800 hours of conti nuo us operation . The 2701 auto rang ing d ig ita l mu ltimeter costs $69 .00 .-B&K -Preci sian , Ma xtec Intern ational Corp., 6470 West Cortland S treet, C hicago, IL 60635; Tel: 312-889- 1448.

affordable , effect ive vo ltage regulation in a compact ages . Built- in s urge sup u n i t , the Tr i P P L i t e pressors protect sens itive LCR-2400 rack-mou nt line devices fro m sp ikes, line ' conditioner is designed to noi se, and RFI/EM I inte rmeet the needs of recordference . Two isolated filter ing st udios, testi ng labs, bands preve nt con nected and ind ustria l settings equipment from interacting w here 19-inc h racks are w i t h eac h ot her. T he used . W it h a 2400 -watt LCR-2400has a multi-color output (20 amps ma x- LED readout t hat indicates imum) -and -14-AG-outlets , - the-level of- line-input -volt-the LCR-2400 can sim ulta- age and reacts to changes neously run a wide variety as they occ ur. Th e LCR-2 4 0 0 rack of equipment, test inst ruments, or appliances . Vari- mount line cond itioner has ous input vo ltages from 87 a suggested retai l price of to 140 VAC are co ntro lled $459.00.-Tripp Lite, 500 to 120-VAC output within No rth Orleans, Chicago, IL ANS I C84 .1 specifications 606 10 -4 188 ; Te l : 312 toprotecteq uipme nt from 329- 177 7 ; Fa x : 312brow n-o uts or over-vo lt- 644 -650 5.

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*Based on a nationwide survey of users who reported anaverage time savings of 54% compared to theirprevious testeq uipment.

You can prove it to yourself, in yourshop, absolutely risk freeand share in the profits successful video servicing can bring. Call 1800SENCORE (7362673) and ask about our exclusive VA62A instrument evaluation program. Tech-Tape Video Preview and FREE full line colo r catalog are also avai lable.

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27

A6iC!
An ETCHED circuit board from a Printed PAGE injust 3 Hours

LOGIC ANALYZERS. Philips' PM 3580/PM 3585

family of lo gic analyzers feature quick set -up timeuse rs need less than 30 minutes to get an instrument up and running. Popup menus and VGA graphics offer a simp le interface for new users , and provide experienced users with short cuts for quick opera tion. Faster analysis is obtained by reducing state and timing measurements to one probe co nnection , requiring only one set-up to be learned, and providing fully-integrated state and timing tr iggeri ng. All measurements are time tagged wit h up to 5-nanoseconds resolution .

connectors for easy tr igger of other instruments, or for external triggering of the logic analyzer from another instrument. The PM 3580/PM 3585 fam ily of logic analyzers ranges in price from $4,250 for the PM 3580/30 with 32 channels of 50-MHz state recording and 32 channels of 100MHz timing and 1K deep memory, to$10,950forthe PM 3585/90 (pictured) , which offers 96 channe ls of 50-M Hz state and 96 channels of 200 -M Hz timing recording with 2K memory. -

John Fluke Mfg. ce., Inc. , PO . Box 9090, Everett. WA 98206; Tel: 800 44-FLUKE, ext. 77.

The ER- 4 PHOT O ETCH KIT gi ves yo u the too ls, mat eri als and ch emi cals to ma ke yo ur own pri nte d ci rcu it board s. The patent ed Pos-Neq ? process co pies artw or k fro m magazines like this one without dam aging the page. Use the c irc ui t patt ern s, tap es and dr aft ing film to make your own 1X artwo rk . Or try th e Direct Etch " system (also inc lude d), to make si ng le ci rc uit boards without artw or k. The ER-4 is stocked by many electronic part s distributors, or order direct, postp aid . ER-4 PHOTO ETCH KIT (NJ and CA residents add sales tax) . . . . .$38.00 DATA K'S CO MP LETE CATALOG lists hund red s of print ed c ircuit produc ts and art patterns. Also co ntains dry transfer letter sheets and elec tro nic tit le sets for professiona l looking co ntrol panels. WR ITE FO R IT NOW!

DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESS ING BOA RD . Dalanco Spry's model 250

dig ita l s ignal processing CDSP) board has analog and digita l inputs and out puts for the PC/AT and bus-compat ible microcomputers . The board is based on the 40-MHz Texas Instruments' TM S320C25 DSP, and can accommodate the faster TMS320C25-50, the ' E P R O M - b a s e d TMS 320E25 , and the newer T M S 3 20C 2 6 . T he model 250 can be used in stand-alone mode in em bedded systems when equipped with t h e TMS320E25 . The DSP board provides data acquisition for eight sing leended channels at 12-bit resolution and a maximum 300 -kHz samp li ng rate . Tw o analog -o utp ut c hannels are provided, as are a buffered digital I/ O expansion connector and the serial (coded interface of the TI DSP. The board can be populated with up to 64K words of zero-wait-state program RAM and up to 128 words of one-wait state data RAM . The data RAM is simulta neo us ly availab le to both t he PC

DATAK Corporation. 55 Freeport Blvd, Unit 23 Sparks, NV 89431

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Two removable pa llets hold over 60 too ls Case top has built-in document ho lder Case bottom is partitioned into 3 areas A handsome black case to organize and transport your valuable tools and instruments. This is the same qua lity case used by literally tho usands of professional field engineers. Case is made of high impact polypropylene, and has snap-action key locks and a padded handle. Size: 17'12 " x 12'12 " x 5" . Tools are not inc luded . Offe r expires January 31, 1991 .

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The logic analyzers feature a unique dual-analyzerper-pin architecture that allows both state data (relating to software funct ioning) and timing data (relating to hardware performa nce) to be acquired fro m the system simultaneously on up to 96 channels, using just a single set of probes . Performance specifications are 50 -M Hz state, up to 200MHz timing, and 2 kilo bytes of memory per channel. Windows allow the display of state and timi nq or two views of state or timing data. Other features include a large , h igh -reso lut ion screen , a video -output socket for connection to an external large-screen VGA monitor, and a parallelprinter port for hardcopy output. Also provided is an RS-232 seria l port for diagnostic test ing and future options, and BNC trigger

28

CIRClE 22 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

and t he T M S 3 2 0 D S P through the use of an onboard memory co ntroller. The model 250 features high throughput and is easily accom modated in multiple-board syste ms . PC-todata RA M -transfer speeds may be as high as 3 megabytes per seconds . Th e ma xi m um co n t in uous throughput to disk is thus lim it ed only by the c apabilities of the host PC's disk sys te m. Software that is bundled along wi th the mode l 250 inc ludes as sembler, debugger, FFT's , signa l and spectrum display, digital filter exa mples, record and playback to and from disk, and a waveform editor.

The mo del 250 digita l signal processing board is priced starting at $1095 (40-MHz TMS320C25, 4K words of prog ram RA M, and 32K words of data RAM).-Dalanco Spry, 89 West la nd Aven ue , Rochester, NY 14618; Tel: 716-473 -3610 .

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HANDSHAKING MODEM. Offeri ng full-dup lex data transmiss ion at rates of up to 19.2 kiloband and a bi-di rect io nal co ntro l signal-a il over two twisted pa irs - Tel e by t e Tec h nology 's mode l 204 Hands haking Modem can pro v ide a "hardware hand shake " for devices such as laser printers and various term inals. The " handshake" is typically used when ter minals are connected to a PBX sw itc h, w hic h use s th e handshake to dete rmine if the terminal is act ive or if its power has been turned

off. Housed in a small plastic case , t he full -du plex mode m measures only 2 x 2% x % -inches. The model 204 samples clear-to -send (p in 4) , request-to-send (pin 5), and t r an s m i t d a t a of t h e RS- 23 2 se ria l int erfac e, and derives its operating power from them-no battery or external power supply is required. The standard- data I/O occ urs on pins 2 and 3 of the RS-232 connec tor. The control signal uses DTR (data term inal ready) as t he handshake input and DC D (data carrier detect) as the hand-

shake outp ut. The inpu t and output are switc hable, to accommodate co nnection of the modem to either a DTE or DC E device. The co ntrol 's ig nal inp ut also controls the data flow from the modem . Data can be transmitted w hen the cont rol s igna l is high . Th e mode m requires no separate power inputs. Data t ransmiss io n between modem s uses differential baseband sig naling tech niques , and common-mode signal rejection capability is greater than 20 vo lts. Those feat ures are there to allow error-free operation in all kinds of noisy environments . The mode l 204 costs $89.00 in unit quantity and $68.00 in quantities of 100.Telebyte Technology lne. , 270 East Pulaski Road, Greenlawn, NY 11 740 ; Tel: 1-800-83 5 -3298 o r 5 16423-3232; Fa x: 5 16 385-8184. R-E

Just imagine, one press of a button and you can tum off your stereo, tum on your TV and VC R, start a videotape, and dim th e ligh ts. The best part is you've don e it all from your favorite chair. T he O ne For A ll remote Whole House Co n troller, Command Ce nter and Lamp Module make it all possible. Installation is a snap. The remote Whole . House Con troller operates virtually any infraredcontro lled device, and when used with th e Command Ce nte r can control lights throu ghout your h ouse. Just point th e remote Whole House Co ntroller at the Co mmand Ce nter and press a button. You've got home control.

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29

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ELECTROM ECHANICAL DESIGN HANDBOOK; by Ronald A . Walsh. TPR, Division of TAB Books Inc., B lue Ridge Summit, PA 17294-0850; Tel. 1-800233-1128; hardcover; $49.50.
The fie lds of electrical and mechanical engineering are closely linked in the des ign and development.of to days man ufactured products. This book fills an important gap in the libraries of engineers and designers whose work requires . them to cross the boundaries between electrical and mechanical de sign. Including information about both disciplines. this well -organized book pro vides practical product-design data . work ing pro cedures. and formulas in one comprehensive volume . The broad range of subject matter covered in. eludesthe following: spring design; standard fasteners and bondi ng methods ; prototype construction : product liability. testing . and patents; basic pneumatic, hydraulic. air-handling. and heat equations and their uses; sheet-metal design and layout; and the selection of bearings and gears . In-depth treatments of frequently encountered top ics are also presented . including descriptive geometry statics and dynamics. the fundamentals of circuit design . electronic components. fabrication techniques . drives . and linkages and mechanisms. The book provides rea lworld examples and more than 500 detailed illustrations . T he emphas is throughout the pages of

too ls; chem icals: sw itches ; and computer accessories . (Customers outside the U.S. and its territories must send $5 .00 for postage to receive the Parts Express cata logJ

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MONITOR POC KET GUIDE ; from Display Technologies, Inc. , 1355 Holmes Road, Elgin, IL 60123; Tel. 708-931 -2100; Fax: 708-931-2120 ; free .
This 4 x 9-inch brochure contains comple te information on 7Y2- and 9-inch color monitors and monochrome models that range in size from 5 to 21 inches . The guide includes easy-toreference tabbed cards that list spec ificat ions such as CRT size . video and power inputs. horizontal

B R OA DCAST DATA SYSTEMS: TELETEXT AND RDS; by Pete r L. Mothersole and Norman W. Whit e. Butterworths, 80 Montvale Aven ue, Stoneham , MA 02180 ; Tel: 617-438-8464; hardcove r; $39.95.
Data trans missio n over TV and radio channelscommonly called teletext

this handbo o k is on the p rac tical des ig n data needed in the day-to-day development of parts. mec hanisms. and assemblies .

'9 0/' 91 CATA LOG; from Parts Express Int ern ational lnc., 340 East First Str e et, Dayto n , 0 H 45 402 ; Tel: 513-222 0173; Fax: 513-222-4644; free.
Packed full of electronic parts and accessories. this catalog will interest both professiona ls and ho b byists. In its pages are capacitors: resistors; speakers and accessories: sem iconductors ; connectors ; wire and cable ; TV. CATV. and VCR repair parts: technical books and schematics ; alarm equipment ;

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and vertica l frequenc ies. and bandwidth. for each of Display Technology's products . Available opt ions are also listed. and mechanical drawings of the products appear on the back of the cards . Highlight ed in the brochure are t he Co lor Pix.L monitors. which feature Sony Trinit ro n CRT tec hnology. In additio n. the pocket guide contains a . listing of sales offices and guide lines for choosing a monitor supp lier.

and Radio Dat a System eRDS). respective ly-are becoming important aspec ts of modern broad casting technology. This book covers both established te levision and radio practices and the computer technology that is used in t he te lete xt and RDS systems. Background informat ion concern ing the development of te letext is presented. along with the data-signal format and coding methods used . The various components required to form a complete system are described . Other chapters cover such subjects as preparing and recording subtitles. the networking of te lete xt data signals and regional ser-

30

vice req uirements, te letext GLOSSBRENNER'S decoders, and t he re-trans - COMPLETE HARD DISK mission of decoded tel e- HANDBOOK; by Alfred te xt signals as a v ideo Glossbrenner and Nick s ig na I. Th e meas u ri ng Anis. Dvorak Osborne techniques requ ired to McGraw-Hili, 2600 Tenth maintain broadcast net - Street, Berkeley, CA works and to test decoders 94710; softcover with for both te letext reception diskettes; $39.95. This encyc lopedic vo land data distributio n are described . The recen t de- ume is fi lled with clearly velopment of RDS, which presented information o n allows digital data to be hard-disk drives for com combined with a V HF radio puter users of all levels of signa l, is d iscussed . The expert ise . The book innecessary tec hniques fo r cludes practica l advice and both cod ing and decod ing convenient t ips about select ing, buying, and installthe signa l are exp lained, and various app lications ing a hard disk; loading and are detai led-includ ing the organizing the hard disk for - -" se-of-RB S-m-prov ide-a - - - - - - - - - --J local traffic-i nformation service by int erru pt ing ne t work programm ing.

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THE INTERSIL I CM721 6

cillator normally uses frequency-counter IC's lO-MHz crystal XTALl, (models A-D) have an an external source can impressive array of go on J3 to pin 24 of functions. All have a IC 3 ( E X T O SC I N P U T) . high -frequency osSome other 7216C feacillator, decade timetures a r e display blanking , measurebase cou n ter, 8 -d eca de data coun ter and ment holding, and display test-reset. latches, 7-segment de coder, di git multiplexSince IC2 is designed for a maximum ers , and 8-digit multiplexed LED-display reading of 10 MHz, ICl, a 7490 decade counter, drivers. expands the range to There are four mod100 MHz by conels; th e 7216A and 7216B are universal necting pin 1 (BIN) to pin 12 (QA) for the counters, capable of maximum count measuring input fre Add frequency-measurement period. Pin 8 (Qcl is quency, oscillator fretied to pin 28 (INPUT A) quency, frequency your workbench capabilities of IC2 for measureratio, period, and time with this inexpensive counter. ment. For more expaninterval, and can persion , IC3, a CD4017 form unit counting. decade counter, is an The frequency counter adjustable divide-bydiscussed here uses CARL BERGQUIST N. th e 7216C with a comquencies . The 7216C/D use As mentioned earlier, there are mon-anode display (the 7216D is single inputs, but have external four ranges, and operation is similar). It'll become one of the decimal point (EXDP INPU T) inputs possible with or without IC3 . most versatile pieces of test (pin 13), and MEASUREMENT IN When S8 is set to OUT , IC3 isn't equipment on your bench, and PRO GR E S S outputs (pin 2). used, and the display reads 1:1, simply fun to use. You can build The frequency counter sche- .showmg the actual undivided it for about $80. matic is shown in Fig. 2. IC2 defrequency of the input on Jl or J2 cade counts the input frequency, in kHz . Obviously, if the frequenCircuit description stores the result in latches, drivcy of the input goes below the Figure 1 shows the pinouts for es an 8-digit multiplexed LED nominal minimum possible for all four 7216 versions; the 7216N any given range, the display will display, and blanks all leading B use two inputs for measureread zero . ments like the ratio of two fre zeros . While the internal os-

BUILD TSIS BENCSTOP FREQUENCY COUNTER

to

1 CONTROL INPUT 2 INPUT B 3 FUNC TiON iNPUT 4 DECiMAL POiNT OUTPUT SEG G I SEG A 8 Vss 5 SEG E } OUTPUT

INPUT A 28 HOLD INPUT 27 O SC OUTPUT 26 OSC iNPUT 25 E XT OSC iNPUT 24 {DIGIT 1 23 7216A DiGiT 2 22 OUTPUT DIGiT 3 21 DiGiT 4 20 DIGIT 5 19 V 18

1 CONTROL iNPUT 2 INPUT B 3 FUNCTiON iNPUT 4 DIG iT 1 } 5 DiGIT3 6 DIGIT 2 7 DiGIT 4 8 V 9 10 DiGIT 6 11 DiGIT? 12 DiGIT 8 13 RESET INPUT 14 RANGE INPUT
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INPUT A ~ HOLD INPUT 27 O SC OUTPUT 26 OSCINPUT 25

~

PARTS LIST
All res is to rs are v.-watt, 5%, un les s otherwise noted. R1-3300 ohms R2- 100,OOO ohms O ohms R3, R5-10,OO R4-22 megohms R6--22,OOO ohms R7- 500,OO O-ohm front panel potentio meter R8-470 ohm s R9-1-mego hm PC-board potentiometer R1Q--1000 ohms Capacitors C1-100 pF, ceramic disc C2-27 pF, ceramic disc C3-E>-50-pF PC-board trimmer C4, C8-Q.1 fl.F, cera mic disc C5-3300 fl.F, 25-volt electrolytic C6--1 fl.F, 10-volt electrolytic C7-1 00 pF-1 fl.F PC-board trimmer Semiconductors D1-D4-1N914 diode BR1-1 .5-amp bridge rectifier DSP1-DSP 4- MAN 6710, 2-d igit, red , com mon-anode, 0.506 -inch, 7-seg ment LED displays IC1-7490 BCD counter IC2-H arri s 7216 C freq uen cy co unter (Digi-Key ICM7216CIJI) IC3-GD4017 decade counter IC4-7805 5-volt DC regulator IC5-555 timer LED1-miniature red T-1 light-emitt ing diode LED2-standard green, jumbo, diffused , T-1-3/ 4 light-emitting diode Switches S1, S5-SPST momentary push button S2-S4- SPST ON/OFF push button S6--SP4T rotary switch S7-SP9T rotary switch S8-DPDT toggle switch S9-SPST ON/OFF push button Other components J1, J2-RCA jack T1-120-to-12.6-volt, 1.2-amp, AC power transformer F1-1 .5-amp fuse with holder PL1-120-volt AC power cord XTAL1 -10-MHz crystal Miscellaneous: Plastic cabinet (mini mu m si ze 8 x 6.25 x 3-i nc hes, 7805 heat sink, bezel for LED2, 5-pin cab inet-mounted terminal strip, knobs, dry transfer lettering , hardware, so lder, wire, etc. NOTE: The MAN6710's are available from Quality Technolog ies Corp., 3400 Hillview Ave. , Palo A lto, CA 94304 , (415) 493-0400 or (800) 533-6786, The 7216C i s available from Digi-Key Corp., 701 S. Brooks Ave. , P.O. Box 677 , Thief River Falls, MN 56701-0677, (218) 681-6674 or (800) 344-4539. T he cabine t is available f or $14.95, from Chaney Electron ics, 932 North 94th Way, Scottsdale, AZ 85258, or P.O. Box 4116, Scottsdale, AZ 85261, (602) 451-9407 or (800) 227-7312.

OUTPUT E XTOSC INPUT DECIMAL POINT OUTPUT 23 72168 OUTPUT OUTPUT { OUTPUT { SEG G 22 SEG E 21 SEG A 20 SEG 0 19 V 18

9 SEG D } 10 SEG B 11 SEGC OUTPUT 12 SEGF 13 RESET INPUT 14 RANGE INPUT

D~~IT 5 }

oo

oo

{ DiGiT 6 17 O UTPUT DIGIT 7 16 DiGIT 8 15

SE G B 17 SEGC 16 SEG F 15

INPUT A 2 1 CONTROL iNPUT 2- MEASUREMENT HOLD INPUT 27iN PROGRESS 3 DE CIMALPOI NT OUTPUT OSCOUTPUT 26 4 SEGE } OSC INPUT 25 5 SEGG OUTPUT EXTO SC INPUT 24 6 SEGA 7 Vss { 7216C DiGIT 1 23 DIGIT 2 22 DIGIT 3 21 20 DIGIT 4 DIGIT 5 19
Voo 18

1 CONTROL INPUT -~ M.EASUREMENT IN PROGRESS 3 DIGIT 1 } 4 DIGIT 2 5 DiGIT 3 OUTPUT 6 DiGIT 4 7 Vss

INPUT A 28 HOLD INPUT 27 OSC OUTPUT 26 OSC INPUT 25 E XTOSC iNPUT 24

DECIMAL POINT OUTPUT 23 7216D { SEGG 22 SEG E 21 20 SEG A SEG 0 19

Voo 18

OUTPUT 8 SEG 0 } 9 SEG B OUTPUT 10 SEG C

11 SEG F

8 DIGIT 5 } OUTPUT DIGiT 6 10 DiGIT 7 OUTPUT 11 DIGI T8 12 RE SE T INPUT 13 E X. DP. INPUT 14 RANGE INPUT { OUTPUT

RESET INPUT 13 EX. DP. INPUT 14 RANGE INPUT

{ OUTPUT

DiGIT 6 17 DIGiT 7 16 DIGiT 8 15

SEG B 17 SEG C 16 SEG F 15

FIG. 1-THE PINOUTS OF ALL FOUR VERSIONS of the 7216. The 7216A!B both take two inputs, for measurements like the ratio of two frequencies, while the 7216C/D have single inputs.

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If the frequency cou nter h ad adequate bandwidth, it coul d actu ally read from 1 kHz-99 ,999 ,9 99 k Hz witho ut IC 3 , or 1 kHz9 9.999999 GHz . Of co u rse t he fr equency r espons e isn 't n early that go od , and the coun te r actu ally works up to only ab ou t 1.8 GHz (u s ing IC3 ). regardles s ofS6 or S 7 . Wit h S6 set to 0 .1 second with IC3 ou t, the co u nter d isplays 0 .1 k Hz -9, 999 ,999 .9 k Hz , or 100 Hz-9 .9 99 99 99 GHz . Setting S6 to 1 seco n d, it di s pl a y s O. 0 1 kH z- 99 9 ,9 9 9 . 99 kH z , or 10 Hz-99 9 .99 9 9 9 MHz. And, sett ing S6 to 10 secon ds, it displays 0 .0 01 kHz-99 ,999 .999 k Hz, or 1 Hz-99. 999 99 9 MHz . If S8 is set to IN , IC3 is on, and the di spla y read i ng h a s to be multiplied by the di vid er factor s etting of S 7 to ge t the ac tual fre-

quency. The maximum di vid er ratio of 18 m ay s eem like a n odd va lue to end With, bu t IC3 didn't h a ve enough taps to d ivide by 20. N ever u s e a n inpu t excee d ing Vo o ; you'll des troy IC2 . Reduce the input gain wi th R7 a n d increase for a s tab le reading. Reg ardin g DSPI-DSP4, t he MAN6710 2-digit , 7 -s egm e n t LE D di splays , the digi t drivers a re in or der along the b OI10m , with the view fro m the fro L Pin 14 is the di gi t d river for th e lefth and di git, a n d pin 13 is for the ri gh t-hand di gi t. The left-hand digit in DS P4 h as the segments and decimal point labeled for reference. The segment d r iver pi n s go on the left s ide in pai rs ; the former in each pair is a left-hand segment, the latter a ri ght-hand segment. Th us, for exam p le, pin 16 is AL , a n d pin II is AR

34

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FIG. 2-THE FREQUENCY COUNTER SCHEMATIC; IC2, the 7216C, counts input frequency in decades, stores the result in latches, and drives an a-digit multiplexed LED display, with leading zero blanking. While the internal oscillator normally uses with 10-MHz crystal XTAL1, J3 takes an external source. Other 7216C features include display blanking, measurement holding, and display test/reset.

Construction The parts-placement di agram for the m ain PC bo ard is s hown in Fig. 3 , a n d the di splay b oa rd is s h own in Fig. 4; th e foil patterns are also provided in this a rticle . The prototype version omitted the power s u pply now incorpo-

rated in the main PC board. Use I8-p in DIP s ockets for the LED d isplay PC board, a n d a ppro p r iate s oc kets for t he m a in P C b oard. The wire gro u ps for both the segmen ts a n d the di gits a re indicated in both Figs . 3 a n d 4, a n d a re omitted for clarity.

The Mons anto MAN671O's a re 2-digi t, 7-s egmen t, multiplexed , co m mo n -ano de LED displa ys ; their pinouts are s hown in Fig. 5 . The B, D, F, a n d DP s egme nts were co n nected by PC -b oar d foils, a n d the A, C, E , an d G segm ents u stng jumpers : th e G jump ers cr iss-cross t he di splay PC bo ard as t hey progre ss. Us e multi-colored wire to identify the various segme n ts a n d di gits; di git drivers DI-D8 go to the top of

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35

FIG. 3-THE PARTS PLACEMENT DIAGRAM for the main PC board . Use sockets for the IC's. The wire groups for both segments and digits are shown.

LEFT DIGIT

r- ------- - 41 4~------------------- -----~13r - - - - - - - -- -,

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FIG. 5-PINOUTS FOR THE MAN6710 2-DIGIT, 7-segment, common-anode, multiplexed LED display.

the di splay b oard. S everal jumpers must b e tack soldere d to the o pads on the foil s id e of the di splay o -c board. c:

The reas on Jl and J2 are con nected together is becaus e in the prototype, the original plan (later abandoned) was to m ake a uni-

versal cou nter, n eed ing two inputs to make fu ll us e of available IC fu nc tio ns . Th e p ar t s di stribu tor the 7216C was obtained from thought ve rsio n C was a u niversal co u nte r. By the t ime the mi s ta ke was d is covered , the front-panel h oles on the cabinet h ad already b een drilled . To avo id a n e m p ty p an el h ol e , du mmy RCA jack J 2 was placed there , in parallel with Jl. Although Fig. 2 in d icates that Jl is the one that 's actually us ed rather than J2, eit her was u s able, but only one at a ti me . Ob viously; you wou ldn 't n eed both jacks on you rs, a n d s h ou ld on ly drill one panel hole. The inputs on Jl and J2 were to have been " 10 0 MH z " a n d " FR EQ DIV," purely. arb itrary titles s temming fro m pers onal preference. In the originally pl anned ve rs io n, tw o 74 90 d ecade co u n te rs were to h ave been u s ed , one for each inpu 1. Th e fini shed fr equ en cy cou n ter is sh own in Fig. 6 . Figure 7 s hows a n overhead view with the top ope n. A 4 70 oh m res is t or was ins talled for R8 , slightly above the ce nter on the left s ide of the main PC board, but n ever u s ed in the prototyp e. In stead, a no t her 470 -ohm r esi stor was placed off-boa r d, in seri es wi th LED2 , b ehind whe re LED 2 a n d its b ezel fit into the fron t panel. The prototyp e really u s ed four boards, but on ly the m ain a n d d ispla y b oards h ad foils . The IC4 h eats ink is of s heet alu m in u m, bent to fit in the cabinet, wit h s ilicone grease u sed for goo d h ea t transfer, and C6 unde rn eath. In the prototyp e , 24-pi n DIP sockets were u s ed . The ri ghtm os t p iece was cut fro m a whole one, a n d h as on ly s ix pins . S ince the three s oc kets a n d the cu t pi ece a t r ight fit flu sh against one a nother, there's a n u nus ed h ole between individ u al di splays . To avo id cutting a socket, use 18 -pi n versions in you rs. The 5 -pi n terminal str ip is u sed as a feed point for th e + 5 volt s from IC4 . Figure 8 s h ows a clos eup view of the LED-display PC board from the foil side . S ince th ree holes were n eedl essly drill ed for JI-J3 , there wasn't enough room left for 58, so a notch was cut in t he lower left co rner of the di s play PC board, clearly visible in Fig. 8. The wires to LED I a re at upper

36

FIG. 6-THE FINISHED FREQUENCY COUNTER, shown in display-test mode, with all digits and decimal points lit. J1 and J2 are wired together, but one is unnecessary (see text).
R7

John Doc

Cer tified Elect ronic T e c h n i c ia n

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S7

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ID2(CA THODES ID3 ATRI GHn

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C6 (UNDER HEAT SINK)

BR1

C5

FIG. 7-AN OVERHEAD VIEW OF THE PROTOTYPE; RB on the main PC board wasn't used. Another off-board 470-ohm resistor is in series with LED2, and IC3 and IC4 were later added to the main PC board. The IC4 heatsink is sheet aluminum with silicone grease; C6 is underneath. The prototype had three complete 24-pin DIP sockets for the LED displays, and part of another, with an unused hole between displays; use 18-pin sockets in yours. The markings shown on D2 and D4 are wrong; the cathodes all point right. The terminal str ip is a feed point for th e + 5 volts from IC4.

rig ht: normai polarity is re versed, with black going to the anode, and white to the cathode. Note the unused pads between in d ividu al LED displays, where they fit against one another on the component side. T he prototype cabinet is 8 x 6 .25 x 3-inches; drill the front panel holes, and do the lab elin g before installing the switches , jacks, and display. Us e dry transfer letteri n g with a ligh t coat of clear enamel to prevent damage. The prototype has the lab els of the digit drivers u s ed on 56 for setting the d is play d eci m al point ;

instead, u s e t he sample ti mes shown in Fig. 2 . Mount T I , a nchor the PC boards, and check for wiring errors. Power-up, test , and calibration When you apply power, LED2 should glow. Press 54 (DISPLAY TEST), a rid the display shou ld show all 8's and d ecim al points, and LEDI should ligh t. If not , disconnect the powe r and recheck the wiring. With 58 in the OUT position, IC I is off; set R7 for maximum gain, and apply a signal of known frequency no m ore than 5 volts in m agnitude to J 1or
CIRCLE 198 ON FREE INFORM ATION CARD

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37

TABLE 1-IDEAL FREQUENCY COUNTER DISPLAY RANGES FOR ALL S6/S7 SETTINGS
Freque ncy Divider Setting (57) Sample Time Sett ing (5 6), s 0.01 0.1 1.0 10.0 1-99,9999,999 0.1-9,999,999.9 0.01-999,999.99 0.001-99,999.999 2- 199,999.998 0.2-19,999,999.8 0.02-1 ,999.999.98 0.002-199,999.998 4-399.999,996 0.4-39.999,999 .6 0.04-3,999,999.96 0.004-399,999.996 6-599.999,994 0.6-59,999,999.4 0.06-5,999,999.94 0.006-599,999.994 8-799.999,992 0.8-79,999,999.2 0.08-7,999,999.92 0.008-799,999.992 1 2 4 6 8

Freq uency Divi der Setting (5 7) Sample Time Setting (56) , s 0.01 0.1 1.0 10.0

10

12

14

16

18

10-999,999,990 1.0-99,999,999.0 0.10-9.999,999.90 0.010-999,999.990

12-1 ,199,999,988 1.2-119.999,998.8 0.12-11,999,999 .88 0.012- 1.199,999.988

14-399,999,986 1.4- 139.999,998.6 0.14- 13,999,999.86 0.014-1 ,399,999.986

16- 1,599,999,984 1.6-159,999,998.4 0.16-15,999,999.84 0.016-1 .599,999.984

18-1 ,799,999,982 1.8-179,999,998.2 0.18- 17,999,999.82 0.018-1 .799,999.982

Note: The actual frequency response is limited to approximately 1.8 GHz for all 86 /87 settings; all values shown here in kHz.

+SV r-------, 8 1 GND

L...-_ _

----'-l 2 TRIG

R9
1ME G DISCI-'7_ - -JlNIM

0 - _....;3 " OUT OUTPUT R10 ICS (1.44Hz 1K 555 6 - 7.21MHz) THRI-"---'; C "' 7- ........
+ 5V

~00PF~1IlF T
4 RST
L-.._ _

BYP
---J

0.1

ca l:--1. -=

FIG. 8-A CLOSEUP OF THE FOIL SIDE OF THE LED-display PC board. Most jumpers go directly to the foil-side pads ; there are no separate holes. Since holes were dr illed for J1-J3, there wasn 't room for 58 , so a notch was cut in the lower left corner. The wires to LED1 (beneath the PC board) are at upper right, black to anode, white to cathode. The pads between th e displays are unused, where they fit against one another on the componen t side.

FIG. 9-AN OPTIONAL 555-TIMER ASTABLE square-wave generator for debugging the frequency counter. Both R9 and C7 are variable, to vary the output frequency from 1.44 Hz-7.21 MHz. The breadboard with this circuit on it appears in the lead photo.

J2 from a di gital pu lse generator. Tun e C 3 unt il the d isp lay shows the same frequency as your standard, and the counter ~ is calibrated. Switch S6 controls ~ the number of digits of resolug: tion following the d ecimal poin t. ~ The frequency is in kHz, so 1 kHz u:J on the lO-second s etting of S6 o s h ou ld show up as LOOO. As you (5 in crea se the sample ti me on S6 , <l: rr th e ac curacy in cr ea s es b ut so
38

does the m ea su rem en t interval. On the O. l-second setting, the read ing is to one decimal place b ut takes only 0 .1 second, whereas on 1O.0 -second s etting, there should be th ree decimal places, but the sa mple ti me a lso in creases accordingly. The setting on S7 is the factor an input frequency is divided by. Th us, a l Ou-Ml-Iz s ignal reads 50 MHz on setting S 7 to 2, 25 MHz

on setting S7 to 4, etc. Conversely. 100 MHz on the display on setting S 7 to 10 im plies a l- GHz in p u t. S5 resets the display to zero. S l retains a readout as long as n eeded, S3 just bla n ks the d isplay. S2 introduces clocking from an ex te r nal sou rce on J 3 , a n d LED I in di cates overflow. A simple astable m ultivibrator square-wave gene rator is shown in Fig. 9 for calibrating th e frequency counter. Adjusting R9 an d C7 will vary the output frequency from 1.44 Hz-7.2l MHz. R-E

2210A
Full Range Pocket Size LED.
$239 .

1300HjA 8030
Bench Po rta b le (Fits In an attachJ case) with ALL the Hc ndl-Countert Fea tures plus More. $579. Low Cost Ultra Sensitive (HF , UH F, VHF).
$179 .

Model 8030 3000 2600 2210A 1300H/A

Range Low H/gh 10Hz 2.4GHz 10Hz 2.4GHz 1MHz 2.4GHz 10Hz 2.4GHz l MHz 1.3GHz

Display 8D/g/fLED

Display IOD /gffLCD

Signal Strength Bargraph

Universal Counter

TCXO

ootton
.l p p m add $125. .2ppm a dd $ 80. .2p p m add $ 80. .5ppm add $ 75. .5p p m add $ 75.

Se nsitivity: <1 to <lOmV typicaL NICa d s & AC Charger/Adapter Incl ud ed. Carry Case . Antennas a nd Pro b es extra . One ye ar parts & la b or warr anty on a ll p ro d uc ts.

HERE'S A PROJE CT THAT YOU 'LL B E

RON HOLZWARTH

happy to display in your front window this Christmas seasonit also makes a great gift that anyone else would love to display in his or her window. The electronic Christmas tree is actually made from a printed circuit board with traces that form the branches of the tree. Different colored LED's mounted on the board simulate Christmas-tree lights. A built-in microphone picks up any audio signals-such as Christmas music-and different strings of LED's light according to the spectral distribution of the audio within a frequency band selected by the constructor. When installed in the custom metal frame. all of the electronics and the batteries are hidden behind the black mat and protected by the front glass. The end result is an attractive little Christmas tree whose lights wiII blink in unison with any kind of audio. The photographs cannot convey the effect of the flashing lights. nor the vivid impression of seeing sound. Music becomes a quickly moving pattern of dancing lights. In fact. any sound becomes an interesting display as the microphone. which tops the tree. picks up any sound in the room. For the hearing-impaired.

it opens up a new window to sound . The project is also good for those who wish to learn about aud io. For example, the tuning fork option only receives frequencies very nea r A440 . But. it is h ard to voca lize anything at any p itch without generating a display. In fact. singing notes far lower than A440 generates various displays. In addit ion, inflections. such as the rise in pitch that usua lly accompanies the concl usio n of a qu es ti o n . are qu ite visi ble. T\1e un it is powered from four AA batteries , a lt ho ugh a n AC adapter jack is a lso in clu ded so that ba ttery power can be conserved. It is a goo d idea to use an ACa dapter whenever possible. as battery life is limited to about eight hours. depending on the volume level of the audio signal (mo re or les s LEO's wi ll ligh t ). a nd the options selecte d . The str ings of LED's can be more accu rately thoug h t of as bar gra phs. The device in cludes an am p litu de- discrimi nation circuit that selects the harmonics of greatest amplitude and displays those harmonics in bar mode. at which time a ll others are in dot mode. An interesting experiment wou ld be to interface the board with other circu itry. The outputs of th e dr ivers are TTL- and CMOS-compa tib le. S ince most LED pos ts ca n be wire-w rapped. wiring se lecte d outputs to an input port is easy The device can then function as a front end to allow your computer to monitor sound waves without the complexity of digital filtering. The outputs can also be used to operate relays . allowing lights of any power level to be used. Circuit operation Alt hough the c ircuit may at first seem complicated. it really isn't. Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the circuit. Signals from the microphone are amplified. ftltered, and automatically adjusted for gain in the automaticgain control (AGC)section. The sections that follow are duplicate d four times. All four sections are id en tical except for the frequ enc ies that they ha ndle. Each section has a level-adjust potenti-

ometer, a bandpass filter. level shifter. demodulator ;';::-~ "~~~-_;J and discriminator, and 11 display driver. Each dis ..u1' .~' play dr iver drives a .. ~ ..,-,~ -, 11; separate LED bar . '": ' "" ~ graph at the output. ;., . 1.... ..,.... ~.,. Three of the bar '_~.l. graphs (A-C) con'~SWL .~~ of,,~ tain ten individ ~"'.II'.._ '~" ~' ual LEOs. and .~ ~ ~~ one of them (D) ~'-' ."~'. ' ~:"';'" contains twenty. ~' '. ~. w....:.~"" Let's take a look ."" # tAl ~'.... ,.~ at the schematic in . .' ~~. ,.~ Fig. 2. Power for the 'WtfMt'pft"_ _ ~.' unit is supplied by the 4 AA ....~ ~'''~ ~ batteries mounted on the ...~: board or supplied through the .. '''., -~. ' .'_ ".~A power jack (J I) on the back of the ' ~ board . Since a bridge rectifier , .;.... (consisting of diodes 01-04) is . =:. used. DC of ei ther polari ty can be seconds. used, as well as AC. The batteries The AGC section consis ts of are disconnected whenever a op-arnp IC I-d configu re d as a plug is in the power jack. non-inve rti ng a m plif ie r. Wh en 1\\'0 large electrolytic capacithe output ofI CI -d inc reases. Q2 tors, Clg and C20. da m p any turns on a n d a llows a s ma ll transients caused by power sura mou nt of cu rrent to flow into ges when a large number of LEO's C4. That will ra ise th e ga te voltare lit. A voltage divider is formed age of Ql, effect ively lowering the by ICI4. an LM336-2 .5. which resistance of RI2, th us decreasoperates much like a Zener diing the gai n of the am plifier as a ode, but without nearly as much whole. In the rest of the di scusvariation in reference voltage . sion. only one filter (filter Awhi ch The device has three terminals. controls bargraph A) will be deand physically looks like a transcribed. as the ot he rs are identisistor. However, the third termical exce pt fo r a few r esi s tor nal is not needed in this values. application, so the device is A level-adjus t po ten tiome ter drawn in the schematic as a (RI?) is n ex t, followed by a buffer Zener diode. The reference volt(ICQ-a). As the potentiometer setage from ICI4 is divided and then ting is inc reased , the a m plit u de of the fiI ter ou tput increa s es. wired to op-amp ICI-c which is in a buffer configuration. The outcausing more LED's to ligh t at the put ofICl-c (pin 8) then serves as output. an analog ground for later T he stage that fo ll ows is portions of the circuit. nothing more than a s u m ming The output from the electret amp lifie r. The input s ig na l is microphone (MICI) appears as summed with a por ti on of the an AC waveform. It is amplified outp ut from the filter t hat folby ICI-b , which is configured as a lows. With a little positive feednon-inverting amplifier with an back from th e filter ou tpu t, the Q adjustable gain set by potentlomis increased. Within the feedback eter R8 . network is a nother filter wh ich The next stage is a bandpass has a resistive d ivider attache d to it that causes it to act as a unityfilter (lCI-a), which selects the frequencies to be used by later gain filter. portions of the circuit. Following The next section is t he level the initial filter is the AGC that shift, which is n eces s a ry s ince 0 limits the signal when the output the output of the filter appears as ~ reaches approximately L I volts an oscillation about the analog ~ peak-to-peak. The gain will inground . The d isplay driver s re- ~ crease slowly during periods of q u ire an inpu t mea sured from JJ silence. reaching maximum sentrue ground , h ence the level sh ift (0 si tivi ty after approximately three section is needed to a m plify the ~

~"'"' ~~- ..... r&3:'~' .~ ..... . a,...... a ""'. ,

~~

. .-

.... -...-.j

.0 - .
0

'

.....

.....

"

..0

41

Filters and Q The Q of a filter defines how lo narrow th e p assband is. It is W ...J equal to the cen ter frequency diW o vided by the difference in fre Ci quency b etwe en the - 3 -d B <t: a: points. The - 3-dB frequency is
a:
42

z o

(J)

output as well as lower the wav eform so that it is r elative to ground. The output of the level- shift section, which is a series of half sine waves, goes through 07 to a resistor and capa citor in parallel (R61 and CI4). Note that this is similar to a conventional AM demodulator. The resistor values con trol the rate a t which the display falls back to a zero s ta te . Increasing the resistor values will make the display fall back (turn off) at a slower rate. The output of the demodulator goes to the amplitude di scriminator, which is an op :amp con figured as a . comparator. Germanium diode 0 11 will conduct whenever one of the filter outputs reaches 0.2 volts . Thus , C18 will charge and remain at 0 .2 volts below the highest DC level. That causes the com pa rator for the filter output of the highest DC level to switch its output to a high state. That output connects to the control input of one s ect ion of a 4066 bilateral switch which connects power to pin 9 of the corresponding LED driver putting it in bar mode. Resistor R65 is of a mu ch larger value than R61-R64. Thus, when the filter output begins to de crease, the driver returns to dot mode and do es not go back to bar mode until the output increases . The time con s ta n t is set so that the voltage has s ignificantly decreased in about one second, so the rhythm of the m usic is displayed as the LED's shift to bar mode a t each beat. Varying the RC time constant will make the device op erate differently. Bargraph 0 is driven by two drivers (lC12 a n d ICI 3) stacked end-to-end . Th ey are made to function exactly as the others as far as the dot-to -bar mode transition is concerned. The display drivers (lC9-ICI3) control the ltgh ting of the LEO's according to the input voltage. A databook should b e consu lted if you wish to know more about the op eration of the di splay drivers .

LEVEL ADJUST AND BUFFERS

BANDPASS FILTERS

LEVEL SHIFT

AM DEMODULATION AND DISCRIMINA TION

DISPLA Y DRIVERS

LED BARGRAPHS

-.+~

Qj

INITIAL BANDPASS FILTER

MIC

FIG. 1-BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE CIRCUIT. Signals from the microphone are amplified, filtered , and automat ically adjusted for gain. .

the frequency at which the p eakto-peak voltage is attenuated by one half from that at the cen ter frequency, assuming a constan t voltage at the input. Assuming we want a center fre quency of 440 Hz, which is the Am erican tuning standard for musical in s t r u m e n t s , and w e want A flat (415 .3 Hz), one half step down , to be a - 3- d B frequency, and A sharp (466.16 Hz), for the other - 3-dB point, 440/ (466 .16 -415.3) = 8 .65. That would b e the Q required for an atten uation of one half when stepping up or down one key on a piano. Interestingly en ou gh, the same Q is required to accomplish that across the entire keyboard. This is a necessary con s eq ue n ce of our tuning s cale, which is now defined as the twelfth root of two multiplied repeatedly at eac h s te p. A lo garithmic s cale was thus d eveloped b y music ian s cen tu r ies b efore mathemati cians h ad opened t he ir ey es, s o to s pea k-c-J vis has been used for th e approx imation of thi s fa ctor, which results in an error of less than one percent. It has been used for the co n s t r uc t io n of

gUita rs and s im ila r stringed instruments for ove r three hundred yea rs. The Delyi annts-Frtend b andpass filter (the typ e used in this project) was first des cribed by T. Oelyiannis in 196 8 . It h a s a number of advantages over some oth er filters, su ch as redu ced , sens iti vity to com pone n t tol erances, minimal parts count, and a r elatively easy-to-u n de rstan d desi gn algorithm . It has b een descr ibe d as a bridged -T RC circ u it wi th a n op-arnp to provide n egativ e feedback. There a re only two paramet ers n eeded to design a b andpass filter. They are the cen ter frequency des ired for the passband, and the Q, or quality fa ctor. The b andpass filter in its s im ples t con figuration is shown in Fig. 3 . That filter has a bandpass center frequency of l/2Jt Hz. The first step in designing is to ass ign num erical values- t hat is , s u bstitute the Q required. Assumin~ a Q of 4, l/2Q = 0 .125, a n d 4Q = 64 . After assigning numerical valu es for each of the com ponen ts, the filter is scaled up in frequency by dividing the capacitor values

~ ~

MICROPHQffE AMP

BArfO~

IfliTIAl FllTlA

~_ _~ A ~

BANDf.SS FIL TlRS

u va
~ , ~

SHIn

m AMPl iTUDE OE MOOULATOt\.S DI$CRl tJlNAJK)N

~

g;2 ~I ~~ 1~i. <--r ~: ~7 r*+=~KY

~~ ~ I

DISPLAY OAIVERS

I,

R"' ~
12K

J~ i~::~~ . ~2
10K

R26

rv

R3"

2.1K

R3 lOOK

1~

: L

ANAlOG 'UR OlJr40"

+ (SEETEXT)

2~'~ _1_ _ 2%._'1

_

- VAlUES CA " SE

CHOSEfiBYBUILDER SEE TEXT

FIG. 2-CHRISTMAS TREE SCHEMATIC. Power for the unit is supplied by the 4 AA batteries or via t he power jack on the bac k of t he unit.

by the d ifference in frequ en cy req uired. Ass ume the frequen cy requtred is 440 Hz. The d ifference in fre quency re quire d is equal to :
fNEWifo LD= 440/ (1/2n) = SSOn

The capacitor valu e (0.125 F) is then div ided by this n umber, giving4.52 x 10 - 5 , the n ew capa citor value for our filter. Th e next step , s ca ling to real-

is ti c values, is best described by an a n alogy. In an RC network, th e t i me co n s tan t re mai ns u nchanged if the ca pacito r valu e is d ivid ed by a ny con s ta n t, jus t as long a s the r es istor va lu es a re mult ip lied by the same constant.

m o m
:0

m m

s::
~

co

co o

43

PARTS LIST
R1

--

All resistors are %-watt, 5%, unless otherwise indicated. R1-10 ohms R2, R7-470 ohms R3, R4,R6, R12, R53-R60, R66100,000 ohms R5, R74-2200 ohms R8, R1 7-R2Q-100,OOOohms, multiturn potentiometer R9, R1 0, R29-R44-0ption dependent, see text and Table 1 R11 , R1 4, R15, R21-R 28 , R7610,000 ohms R13, R45-R52-1000 ohms R16, R65--1 megohm R61-R63-47,000 ohms R64-75,000 ohms R67-15,000 ohms R68-R73-2400 ohms R75--5100 ohms Capacitors C1-C3 , C6-C13-0.022 fLF, 5% metal film C4, C21-C29-2.2 fLF, tantalum C5, C14-C18-10 fLF, tantalum C19, C2Q-1000 fLF, electrolytic Semiconductors IC1-IC6-LM324 quad op-amp IC7, IC8-C04066 quad bil ateral switch IC9-IC13-LM3914 bar /dot LED driver IC14-LM336Z-2.5-volt reference Q1 -2N4393 or 2N3972 MOSFET Q2-2N3906 PNP transistor 01-06-1 N4002 rectifier diode 07-01 4-1 N34 germanium diode

Bargraph1-Bargrap h4-50 LEO's, assorted colors (3 groups of 10, 1 group of 2Q-see text) Other components MIC1-1 -volt PC-mount electret microphone J1 -eoaxial barrel-type power jack (Shogyo SJ-0202) S1-C&K 70 00-series right-angle SPOT switch B1-B4-AA battery Miscellaneous: PC board, two battery holders (Keystone 2223), metal frame and cover glass, six %inch spacers, solder, a bit of Christmas spirit, etc. Note: The following is available from ART WORKS, Box 753, St. Francis , Kansas 67756: PC board, $35 each (three or more , $30 each); Partial kit, inclUding PC board, all components including S1, J1, battery holders, and all 1% resistors listed (does not include LED 's, frame, or spacers), $90 each (three or more, $80 each); Complete kit, including all of the above , plus 50 LED's in four colors, spacers, flat-black metal f rame , front glass and mat , S125 each (three or more , $100 each). All prices include shipping and handling. Check or money order only. Please order early-we will do our best, but cannot guarantee delivery in less than 30 days. When making technical inquiries please include a SASE.

IN~2O

T~~

R2=4Q2

OUTPUT

FIG. 3-A BANDPASS FILTER in its simplest configuration. It has a bandpass center frequency of 1/2rr Hz.

Cl
' / 20

2Q2 R3=2QLl

FIG. 4-WHEN DESIGNING a un ity-gain filter, a voltage divider must be added to the input.

R3

o,, w
R3=0....... 0 R2 1 R4
+

Cl '/20
R6

Rl
IIlPUT 1

20'

C2 '120

40'

R5 =~
2Q2 -1

R5

FIG. 5-TO RAISE THE Q , positive feedback is added to the filter input.

a:
f-

The same concept h appen s to b e true in an op-amp filter. That is, the ce nter fre q uency (and Q) will be unchanged wh en t his step is ta ken. A capacitor value of 0.022 fJ-F resu lts in realistic comp onent va lues across t he entir e a u d io band, provided the Q is not too high. S o, since the capacitor values will all b e 0 .0 2 2 fJ-F, we can divide 4. 5 2 x 10 - 5 by 0. 0 22 x 10 - 6 , resulting in 2, 055 . Bo th of the resis tor values in Fig. 3 a re then multiplied by that co nstant, resulting in 2 ,055 and 131 ,5 3 3 kilohms . At t h is point, it is a good id ea to check yo u r wo rk . The va lues j ust ~ obtained shou ld b e substituted ~ into the following equation :

also b e u s ed to check the va r ia nce in ce nter fr equency when stan dar d co m po nent va lues are s ubstituted , or to analyze an already ex isting filter. In designing a u n ity-ga in filter, a voltage d ivide r mus t b e a d ded to t he in p u t , as s hown in Fig. 4. S ince the n ew Rl is one half of R2, t hat va lue is easy to calculate . For t he n ew R3 , the factor
2Q 2/2Q2 - 1 = 2 (16) /2(16 ) - 1
=

1OK(QNEW/Q NEW - 4)

1.0 3 2

....J

trl

= 1/2nCvRIR2
= 1/2n(0. 022

x 10 - 6 X V 2 ,05 5K x 131,533K)

is then m u ltiplie d by the old Rl , resulting in 2 121. 5. To r ai s e, o r en hance the Q , posi tive feedba ck is a dd ed to the filter in put, as in Fig. 5 . The va lu es for R l , R2, a nd R3 of Fig . 5 do n ot need to have the same s cale factor as used before. A fine va lue for R l a nd R2 is 10K; R3 w ill then be
1OK(Q NEw/ Q NEw - Q )

The resu lt s hould b e the or tg tnal frequency. That equation can

or, for our exam ple,

where Q NEW is t he des ired Q of the co m plete filte r. The la s t step is to d eter m in e t he closest standard val u e for each res is tor. There are fou r versions of the u n it t h at can b e built without h avin g to make a ny calcu la t ion s . The four ve rsions are t he broadban d op tion , the lo we r-fo urguitar-strings option, the upperfou r-g u itar-strings option , and the tuning fork option. The tu ning fork option is a good generalpurpose version that w ill provide a n ice d isplay with most au d io inpu ts. To u s e any of those options , you must refer toTable 1: it shows the resistor va lues you 'll n eed to u s e for the four filters to a chieve the specifi ed fr equencie s . Also , depend ing on which option you choose, the initial bandpass filter m ust b e s et u p accordingly. To u s e Tab le 1, first refer to the top section to d etermine the re -

44

sistor values for the initial bandpass filter, the other four bandpass frequencies , and any special provisions for the particular option. Then, from the bottom section, determine the resisto r values for th e other four filters according to the frequencies listed in the top section. The resistor numbers shown (R29 , R33, and R37) are for filter A. For filter B, add 1 to the res istor number (for example, R29 becomes R30, etc.). For filter C, add 2 to the resistor number, and for filter D, add 3. Although you can assign any of the four frequencies to any of the four filters, the display will be most interesting if you use the lowest frequency for filter A, next highest for B, and so on, Note that where it says to delete a component, you should leave it out but DO NOT jumper the pads on the board. Where it says to jumper a component, you should leave it out and solder a jumper between the pads .
Construction

TABLE 1 Lower Four Guitar Strings Option: (E3, A3, 04 , G4) Center Frequency = 270 Hz Initial Filter Q = 1.5 R9 = 9.1K R10 = 82K R41-R44 = 11K Upper Four Guitar Strings Option: (04, G4, B4, E5) Initial Filter Q = 1.5 Center Frequency = 470 Hz R9 = 5.1K R10 = 47K R41 -R44 = 11K Tuning Fork Option: (A4 flat, A4, A4 sharp, B4) Initial Filter Q = 5.8 Center Frequency = 470 Hz R9 = 1.3K R10 = 180K R41-R44 = 12K Broadband Option: (E2, A3, B4, F6 sharp) (Jumper C2, delete C3) R9 = 1K R10 = 100K Note E3 A3 04 G4 A4 A4 A4 84 E5 E2 A3 84 F6 (frequency) (164.81 Hz) (220 Hz) (293.66 Hz) (392 Hz) flat (415.3 Hz) (440 Hz) sharp (466.16 Hz) (493.88 Hz) (659.26 Hz) (82 Hz) (220 Hz) (493.88 Hz) sharp (1480 Hz) R29 174K 133K 97.6K 73.2K 69.8K 66.5K 61.9K 59K 44.2K 11 K 4.22K 1.8K 620 ohms

delete R41 -R44 R33 5.62K 4.22K 3.16K 2.37K 2.26K 2.10K 2K 1.91 K 1.40K delete delete delete delete R37 348K 261K 196K 147K 140K 130K 124K 118K 88.7K 680K 261K 118K 39K

If you like, you can etch your own PC board since the foil patterns for the double-sided board are provided . However, an etched, drilled, plated-through', and silkscreened board is available from the source mentioned in the parts list. Keep in mind that t h e cosmetic effect of the green mask, silver branches, and white snow will be lost if you make your own board. Locating the components for installation is also easier using the pre-made silkscreened board. Complete and partial kits for the Christmas tree are also available. Before beginning construction, you have to decide on how you want your LED's arranged , The author's intention was to make each detected harmonic a separate color. However, you are free to arrange the LED 's in any pattern you choose, and you can also use whatever colors you like. In any case, the silk screening on the pre-made board indicates which bar gra p h each 'ligh t belongs to ; there are short white lines between the LED leads. The lines going up (from left to right) are for bargraph A, the horizontal lines are for bargraph B, and the ones going down (from left to right) are for bargraph C. Bar-

NOTE: All versions except the broadband option require 1% resistors.

0"
o ..

"'0
tI.
0

O.

o.

00

rn
rn
~

s: OJ
.....- - - - - - - -- - 81NCHES -

rn

- - - - - -- ------..1

:n
<0 <0 0

COMPONENT SIDE of the Christmas tree at half the actual size.

45

FIG. 6-ALL OF THE COMPONENTS mount on the front of the board, with the exception of J1 and S1; they mount on the solder side. Use a separate color for each LED bargraph.

grap h 0 is indicated by the absence of a s hort wh ite line. Wh en installi ng t he cornponents, start wit h the LED 's , as s hown in the pa r ts-pla cement diagram of Fig. 6. The letters n ex t t o the LED 's indicate wh ich bargrap h they b elon g to . You s h ou ld ~ prob a bly s pe n d a minute or so ~ look in g a t h ow the LED 's a re a ra: ranged on t he p ri nted ci rcu it b oard because, once the device is UJ -l assembled, the patter n b ecomes UJ o very co nfus ing a n d the s ho rt o whi te lines are covered b y the ri LED's.

The LED 's a re install ed with the cath ode (the flat s ide ) toward the bottom of the b oard . It's b es t to firs t so lder one lead of each LED a n d then check for uniform pos iti oning. Straighten them ou t where n ecess ary, and then s older the other leads . Reme m be r, that if you wan t to interface you r tree to ot her ci rcuitry later on , to leave enough extra lead on the b ack of the b oard to a llow a wi re -wrap con nection to b e m ade. Be s u re to wo rk ca refu lly, so that you'll b e a ble to bring ou t this project for many a Christmas to come . If you

ins tall all the com po nen ts properly, it's very lik ely that the device will operate cor rec tly r ight off the bat. Fro m the photo in Fig. 7 , you ca n see the s ix s pacers that a re in s talled on the b oard to h old it in place wit hin the m etal frame. It 's a goo d idea to insta ll t he s pacers now, s ince they will protect t he LED 's fro m b ein g damaged a n d ca n also s u p po rt the board stead ily. Now continue ins talling the res t of the com pon en ts on the board. You mus t now decide what Ire -

46

. - - - - - - - - ---8INGHES--

- -- - --

--.-,

SOLDER SIDE of the Christmas tree at half the actual size.

quencies your Christmas tree will respond to. Ifyour device is to be an assistance to the h ea r in gimpaired , the broadband option will be the best, as both low frequencies and the high p itch of a police siren will be detected . For a musical version, you will h ave to make a dec ision based on your instrument of choice. Perhaps you can consult with a m u s icia n friend on this. You ca n re-tune the device at any time by simply changing a few resistors. All the components req u ired for each s uggested version are included in the kit. Remember that the initial filter must be "in h a r mony" with the other filters. Th ey cann ot detect frequencies that the initi al filter doesn't pass. Refer to Table 1 whe n choosing fr equen cy d eter m in in g resistor values, or you are free to calculate your own values. A word to the wise: put a set of batteries in the holders before soldering them. If you don't, the contacts on the b attery h old ers are too close togethe r w h ich m a k e s b att ery c ha ng i ng extre me ly difficult. Als o, remember that the ON/OFF switch and the DC power jack moun t on the so lder side of the board as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig. 6. Checkout After checking for incor rectly installed components, poor sol de r joints, a n d shorts, and ma king sure to correct a ny problems , in stall a se t of batter ies or con nect a 6-volt p ower so urce to the power j ack . Turn ing the power swi tch on will cause many of the LED's to ligh t. After which point, they will step down to posi ti on one, then go out. This is normal operation as t he d e vi c e ap proaches steady state. Slowly increase the gain of the in itial amplifier by turning R8 clockwise. Go back a n d forth between one of the level-adj u s t poten tio meters and R8, increas ing them a little b it each ti me u n til one of the bargraphs responds to the sound of your voice. Make sure that none of the potentiometers are set too high, as troublesome oscillations may occur. Alternatively, connect a voltmeter to the junction of R15 and R16 and increase the setting of R8 un t il speaking directly in to conti n ued o n page 90

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FIG. 7-THE SPACERS THAT HOLD THE BOARD in place in the metal frame should be installed early to prevent damage to soldered components.

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47

BUILD T " IS

TELEPH NE C LLSC EE

L A S T M O NTH W E C O V E R E D A L L OF

the op erating theory con cer n in g the CallScreen unit. This month we will finish up the story by building the unit.

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Construction Construction of the CallScreen essentially involves s tu ffing the two PC boards; the main board and the front-panel board. The use of PC boards with platedthrough hol es w ill gre a tly ease and speed up the assembly. The main PC board includes circuitry for th e ca ll routing adapter (CRA). The parts-placement diagram for the main board is shown in Fig. 3. If that feature is not going to b e used , the CRA corner of the PC board can be removed with a hack s aw. Then the ringer transformer can be placed in the cu tou t space. That will res u lt in a very com pac t unit if a wall-type power transformer is used. Also, the CRA can be con nected as an outboard unit in its own project box ; all you have to do is make the nine con nections to the m ain board. You ca n combine CRA s w itches S 10 1 a n d 5102 into a s ingle DPDT centeroff toggle switch. The telephone inpu t/output con n ect ions to the main board a re made u sing a s tan dard telephone extension cord cu t in h alf, with the cut ends s olde red directly to the main board. That

Get ready to give out your access codes, but only to the people who you want to hear from!
JOHN G. KOLLER

makes it easy to place the CallS creen ou t of s ight. The CRA jacks , however, a rc mounted di rectl y to the PC board. All parts on the main board a re moun ted on the com ponen t s ide . The parts -placemen t diagram for the fron t-panel PC board is s h own in Fig. 4 . All parts moun t on the co m ponent s ide of the bo ard with the excep tion of the s ix DIP s w itches a n d t he two s creen-stat us indi ca tors (LED1 a n d LED2 ); th ose parts moun t on the solder s ide so they can protru de t h r ough the fron t -p an el cutouts (see Fig. 5). The builder may wish to s implify both the assem bly a n d c u tti n g out t he fron t p an el b y

elim inating the si x DIP swi tches. You ca n s im ply hard wire you r s elected code s during assembly. Fu ture code changes could be made but would require moving jumper wires . Hard wiring of ac cess codes is done by soldering a 2-inch wire to the com m on foil of eac h of the s ix DIP-switch traces. The wires are then soldered to the s e lec t e d di git pads . Fi gure 4 shows the outline of the code -se lector s witches a n d the di gits (1-9) accessed by eac h swi tch position. Remember that as the DIP switches are on the s olde r side. Wh en s olde r ing com ponents to P C bo ard s wi t h o u t pi a te d through holes, always m ake s u re that the leads a re s olde re d on bo th s ides . Miss ed solde r co n n ections are a frequent so u rce of problems during th e i n i ti al check out. Als o, if a PC board without plated-through h oles is used , h ard wiring of th e code connections is recommended. That's b ecaus e , with t he DIP switches in pla ce, to p solde ri ng ca n n ot b e done. However, on e way a ro u n d that is to u se adhes ive coppe r foil attached to the bottom of the switch b ody a n d s olde red to the com m on row of connections . The en d of the copper foil is then brought ou t from under the en d of the switch a n d con nected to the com mon foil. A copper pad without h oles is provide d on the foil for th is purpos e.

TO FRONTPANEL
/r_------ ----- -~A'----- --------- ~,

S101

S102

REO GREEN TO SLAVE PHONES OR eRAIF USED

FIG. 3-PARTS-PLACEMENT DIAGRAM fo r the main board. Note that the CRA parts also mount on this boa rd, although the two circuits are completely separate.

On the assembly d rawing for t he front-pa n el PC b oa rd (Fig. 4 ), lea d s are s hown for t h e local sc ree n -mo de se lec t switches. Wh en u s ed , they a r e s imply SPST m om en tary p us hb u ttons . Typ -

icall y, they are _not u s ed s ince most m odern telep hones are of t he To u c h-To n ev type , a nd scree n -mode c ha nges ca n b e made from a ny such phon e connected to the Ca llScreen output

jack. Wh en the CRA is switc hed on, remote screen se lection from co nnec te d t elephones is a u t oma ti cally di s abl ed as a security m ea sure in case a n a nswe ri ng mac hi ne or FAX mac h ine a n -

' - - ---- -- - ~ vr----------~

m o m m
JJ
CD
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- MOUNTS ON SOLDER SIDE

FROM MAIN BOARD

FIG. 4- PARTS-PLA CE MENT DIAGRAM for the front-panel PC board. The DIP switches can be left ou t if you hard w ire t he access codes.

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53

CALLSCREEN PARTS

COPYRIGHT

1988 J.G.Kol ler

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All resistors are %-watt , 5%, unless otherwise noted. R1 , R10, R46, R57, R65 , R68-1 megohm R2, R5, R7, R1 7-R19 , R23, R26, R32, R33, R36-R42, R52-R55, R58, R60, R63, R67, R70, R75-10,000 ohms R3, R27-560 ohms R4, R29, R71-47,OOO ohms R6-560 ohms, Y 2-watl R8-metal-oxide varistor (MOV) surge suppressor, 130 VRMS, 15 joules R9-not used R11 , R12-2200 ohms R13-R16 , R20, R24, R25, R30, R31, R34, R45, R61-100,000 ohms R21-680,OOO ohms R22, R50-4700 ohms R28-680 ohms R35--51 ,000 ohms R43, R44-180 ohms R47-R49-200,000 ohms R51-2000 ohms, potentiometer R56-390,OOO ohms R59-1 00 ohms R62, R74-470 ohms R64-150 ohms, V2-watt R66-82,OOO ohms, 1% R69-33,OOO ohms R72-220 ohms R73-10 ohms Capacitors C2, C3, C16, C17, C19, C20, C23, C25, C28-C31 , C39, C47, C560.02 f.LF, 20 volts, ceramic disc C4, C10, C21 , C52-22 f.LF, 16 volts, radial electrolytic C5, C15, C22, C24, C26, C33, C49, C50, C51 , C54, C55, C57-0.11.LF, 20 volts, ceramic disc C6-C9-not used C1 1-0 .33 f.LF, 250 volts, po lypropylene C12-0.47 f.L F, 250 vo lts , polypropylene C13- 10 f.LF, 50 volts, axial electrolytic C14-2200 f.LF, 25 volts, radial electrolytic C18-100 f.LF, 10 volts, radial electrolytic C27- 4.7 f.LF, 10 volts, axial electrolytic, non-polarized C1 ,C32,C34,C35,C40,C48,C5810 f.LF, 10 volts, radial electrolytic C36-0.039 f.LF, 20 volts, ceram ic disc C37-0.01 f.LF, 20 volts, ceramic disc C38, C53-0.05 f.LF, 20 volts, ceramic disc C41, C45--470 f.LF, 10 volts, radial electrolytic C42, C46-0.22 f.LF, 50 volts, polyester C43-1 f.LF, 35 volts, tantalum C44-4700 f.LF, 16 volts, radial electrolytic

Semiconductors IC1- LM1458 dual op-amp IC2, IC25--LM741 op-arnp IC3-MC4001 quad NOR gate IC4, IC12- IC14, IC2 2-MC 4081 quad AND gate IC5-SSI 202 DTMF receiver (Silicon Systems, Inc.) IC6-MC4028 BCD-to-decimal converter IC7-TCM1520 ring detector (Texas Instruments) IC8, IC21-4N33 Darlington optocoupler IC9-MC4071 quad OR gate IC10, IC28-MCT-2 transistor optocoupler IC11 , IC20 , IC24, IC27-MC4011 quad NAND gate IC18-MC4013 dual Ootype flip-flop IC15-IC17, IC23-MC4017 decade counter IC19-MC7805 5-volt regulator IC26-LM383 7-watt power amplifier 01,02,035, 04Q-5.1-volt Zener diode 03-010, 012-018, 0 20-03 2 036-039, 041- 1N91 4 diode 011 ,019033, 034-not used 0 1-04-2N4401 NPN transistor BR1-50-PIV 1.5-amp bridge rectifier BR2, BR3-100-PIV 0.5-amp bridge rectifier Oth er components T1-120/1 2VAC 950 milliamp power transformer T2-600/600-oh m te lephone line coupling transformer T3-8/8K ohm 10-watt matching transformer (use 8-ohm and 0.625watt taps on a 70-volt line transformer) XTAL1- 3.58-MHz colorburst crystal S1 , S2-SPST momentary pushbutton switch S3-S8-9-position DIP switch RY1-SPST N.D. miniature relay, 5volt, 70-ohm coil (or nearly any other 5-volt miniature relay) RY2-0POT miniature relay, 12-volt, 290-ohm coil (between 260-400 ohms) CA LL ROUTING ADAPTER PARTS All resi stors are %-watt, 5%, unles s ot herwise note d. R1 01-150 ohms, Y2-watl R102, R103-10,000 ohms R104-330 ohms R105--1000 ohms Semiconducto rs 0101-0106-1N914 diode 0101 , 0102-2N4401 NPN transistor Other com ponents RY101 , RY102-SPOT miniature relay, 12-volt, 320-ohm (nominal) coil S101 , S102-SPOT miniature switch (or use single OPOT center-off switc h)

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COMPONENT SIDE of the front-panel PC boa rd, at f ull size.

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swe r s a processed call. It i s done so that the scree n modes ca n n ot b e changed b e the caller during

t he seven -secon d " w i n d ow " when an off-hook i s raised at the CallScreen/CRA output. If ca ll rout-

i n g i s d esired for telephones on ly, then the r emote sc ree n sel ection feature sh ou ld r emain available all the time. That is achieved by leav i n g out the jumper wire from the CRA t erminal E to the m ainboard TPY: Wh en th e two boards a re

ORDERING INFORMATION
Note: This information supersedes that presented last month. The following is available from Electronic Control Systems, R.D. 2 Box 3308 , Wernersville, PA 19565: A set of two double-sided, plated-through PC boards for $39.95 (add $2.00 postage and handling); a complete kit including PC boards and all parts except the cabinet for $139.00 (add $3.50 postage and handling). Pennsylvania residents add 6% sales tax to all orders; check or money order only.

1 - - - --

- -- --

8INCHES- - - - - - - - - - - - 1

COMPONENT SIDE of the main circuit board, shown here at half of its actual size.

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1---- - --

----8INCHES - - -- - -- - - - -----1

SOLDER SIDE of the main circuit board, shown here at half of its actual size .

fini shed they a re con n ected toge the r a n d mounted at a righ t angle to each other in the cabinet. But remember to inspect all wiring a n d s old er joints for poor or non-existent connections b efor e doing s o. All interconnections b etween th e two boards s h ou ld be made with fin e gauge hook-up wire (AWG 3 0 ) to reduce m echanical stress on the bo ards during asse m b ly. The b oard s m ay be installed in a ny typ e of cabinet the builder wishes. If the LED indi c a tor s a re pan el mounted and the code -select DIP switches a re repl aced with h ard wire jumpers , th en the fron tpanel boa rd ca n be mounted a nywhere inside the cab inet. The two power lC's (IC19 a n d IC2 6) mus t be h eat sinked. Their location on the PC board allows them to be bolted directly to the cab ine t wall u sing 6-32 h ardware. (Make s u re th at the nuts used are no t s o large that the lC cas e s c rac k wh en tight en ed against the tabs). Both IC heatsink tabs are a t grou n d potential so they do n ot require insulating. If a plas tic cabinet is u s ed, a s tr ip of alu m in u m s heet m etal may b e mounted to the tabs as a h ea t s in k. The maj ori ty of h eat ge nerated occ u rs when the scree ner is rin ging te le p ho nes , s o larg e s in ks a re n ot n eeded. A 1- x 5in ch strip of alu m in u m s h ou ld be s uffic ient. Power-up S et the ri n g-volt age potentiomete r (R51) to a n initial lO-O'Clock po sition. If possible. adjust the ring voltage to 90 volts u sing a 0 DMM a n d a n REN load of 1.0. If ~ the CRA is u s ed, make sure it is m sw itched off. Con n ect the Call- ~ Screen to a phone line. Lift the m JJ re ceiver a n d check for a dial tone. <0 Con nect a n ohmmeter ac ross ~
55

FIG. 5-THE SIX DIP SWITCHES and the two screen-status indicators (LED1 and LED2) must be mounted on the solder side of the front-panel board so that they can protrude through the cutouts on the cabinet.

the + 5-volt supply line and make s ure that no low resis tances exist (les s tha n lK). S imilarly, check in your Technical Career through the + 16-volt supply lin e for any resistance under 15K. Connect a DC volt meter across the 5-volt s upply, power up th e un it, and I: check for the proper voltage. Also I ~I check th e 16-volt s upply; u n der , idle conditions it s hou ld rea d close to 18 volts. Lift t he rece iver of the telephon e and check for screen mode changes u sing the " #" and "*" keys. Leave the screen mod e in "Lim ite d Scree n" (one LED lit). Add prestige and earning pow er to Note that screen mod e changes your technical career by ea rn ing via a co n nected phone are alyo ur Associate or Bachelor degree lowed for on ly seven seconds folthrough d irected home study. low ing a n off-hook transition. . . Using two telephones connecte d Grantham College of E nginee ring to the CRA ou tpu t jacks , h ave a .. ca ller enter each -code, and also . . awards ac credited deg rees in n o code , wit h the CRA in each of electronics and computers. it s tw o m odes . Verify that call rou ting occ urs. An important part of being preIn a s im ilar m an n er, cause one pared to m ove up is hold ing the phone to ring but answer the call right college degree, and th e a bso- through the n on-ringing phone. lutely necessary pa rt is knowing Ver ify th at the in coming call is your field. Grantham ca n help you properly a nswe red . Repeat the both wa ys-to learn more a nd to step u s ing the ot her telephone. earn your degree in the process. Ver ify that outgo ing ca lls ca n be 1-- - - -- - -- -- - --, Grantham offers two degr ee programs-one with majo r em phas is Try the in electronics, the other with major emphasis in computers. Associate and bachelor degrees are a warded in each program, and both probulletin board grams are a va ilable completely system by correspondence.

Put Professional Know led ge a nd a

COLLEGE DEGREE

HOME STUDY

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Eliii!:;mn'Es
(RE-BBS) 516-293-2283

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No commuting to class. Study at your own pace, while continuing on your present job. Learn from easy-to-under stand lesson s, with help from your Grantha m instructors when you need it.
Write for our fr ee catalog (see address be low ) , or phon e us a t t oll- fr ee 1-800-955-2527 (for catalog requests only) and ask for our " degree catalog."
Accredited by the Accrediti ng Commission of the National Home Study Council

The more you use it the more useful it becomes. We support 300 and 1200 baud operation . Parameters: 8N1 (8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit) or 7E1 (7 data bits, even parity, 1 stop bit). Add yourself to our user files to increase your access. Communicate with other R-E readers. Leave your comments on R-E with the SYSOP.

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SOLDER SID E of the f ron t - panel PC board , at full si ze.

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GRANTH AM
College oj Engineering
250 Frontage Road Slidell, LA 70460

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made by either phone regardless of the CRA mode. Be s ure to re view las t month's article for a discussion of all screening feat ures. The detailed circuit descrip tion should help you to troubleshoot any problems. Then you're ready to give out your access codes! R-E

56

SUSIE simplifies digital design, and makes breadboards a thing of the past.
TJ BYERS
DESIGNING DIGITAL CIRCUITS MAY

If you knew SUSIE

look like child's play, but the journey from inspiration to a functional circuit is fraught with peril. Propagation delays , glitches, timing violations, and bus conflicts can turn a simple idea into a nightmare. The traditional method oftesting a digital design is to breadboard the circuit, then drag out the logic probe, oscilloscope, and logic analyzer to find out why it doesn 't work. The modern method is to simulate the design on an IBM-compatible PC using a program called SUSIE (standard universal simulator for improved engineering), m ade by a company called Aldec.

SUSIE is a simulation program that graphically depicts the timing and logic events of a digital circuit. Although SUSIE uses software to verify the design, the results are the same as if you had built the circuit and used an u ltra-sophisticated logic analyzer to test and debug it. SUSIE simulates the operation of logic IC's using mathematical models stored in a library. IC models include algorithms for setup and hold time, pulse width, edge-to-edge transfer delay, and other propagation parameters. There are different libraries for different types of components, with one library for TTL devices, another for CMOS , yet another

for ECL , and so on. SUSIE comes with those three libraries, plus two additional librar ies con taining switches and other passive components. Aldecs Model Builder Compiler (MOBIC) allows you to model Ie's that are not included in the libraries. You can also purchase extra lib ra ri es for devices including memory Ie's, microprocessors, gallium-arsenide (GaAs) logic, programmable logic devices (PLD's ), and gate arrays, plus libraries for computer interfaces and industrial components like stepper-motor control- 0 lers. The optional libraries cost ~ between $800 and $2,000. How- ~ ever, you can do a lot with the OJ m nearly 6000 devices that come JJ standard with the basic SUSIE cD package. ~
57

PRODUCTS MENTIONED SUSIE Aldec Co . 3525 Old Conejo Rd. #1 11 Newbury Park, CA 91320 (805) 499-6867 OrCAD OrCAD Systems Corp. 1049 S.w. Baseline St. Suite 500 Hillsboro, OR 97123 (503) 640-9 488 SuperCAD Mental Auto mation 5415 136th Place S.E. Bellevue , WA (206) 641-2141

14 CLR

Q 7

3 J

4 PR

IC1 -b 1/ 2 74LS112 13 CLK 11

IN 1

IC2 -a 1/2 74LS112

_ Q 9 PR 10

1-

CLK K

CLR -Q
15

2
Vee

OUT 1

Vee

10
.-13 CLK PR 1'-1 '-1 J IC2-b

Q7

1 12 74LS112

A SUSIE example To und e r sta nd h ow S US IE works, let's take a n exam ple. The circuit s h own in Fig. I is a divideby-five cou n ter with a SO% duty cycle . Ordina ry d ivid e-by-S cou n ters produce a n asym metr ic output with a 20/80 timing rati o, but by using a n egative edge -tr iggered flip-flop a n d h alf-state timin g, we can make a divid e-by-five co u nte r w it h a SO/SO ti m ing ratio. Thr e e c o u n te r s t a g e s ar e n eeded to di vide by five, wit h one driven on th e inverted clock to com pen sate for the odd number of states . That is, to ac h ieve the s ixth s t ate n eeded to produce a SO% du ty cy cle, ICI-b mu s t ch ange s tate on the nega tive edge of the clock at t= 2.S, an d that can b e for ced by timely triggering of the flip -flop 's PRESET in put (pin
10).

CLR 14

vee
FIG. 1-DIVIDE-BY-FIVE counter with a 50% duty cycle output.

Debugging a circ u it like that in h ardware cou ld ge t quite th orny. Let's see h ow S US IE h andles the situation .
Design entry SU SIE 's de sign ve r ificatio n pro ces s is divided in t o th ree steps : d es ign entry, test vectors, a n d s im u lation. Duri n g d es ig n en t ry you load a n d defin e the section or sections of the circ ui t you want to d ispla y on the screen. SUSIE can s how as m uch or as little of the design as you wish . You can zoo m in on a s ingle IC or display waveforms for every poi n t in the ci rc u i t. Des ign entry begins with a n etlis t. The n etl is t contains a lis t of all the co m ponents in the circu it a n d their co n nections to one

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a nother. SUS IE reads the netlist. downloads the specified compon en ts from thei r libraries, and "bu ilds" the ci rc u it in RAM. (S ee the s idebar, "Wr iti n g A SUSIE Netlist," for more information about netlists.) After SUSIE loads the n etlist. you defi ne which part(s) of the des ign you want to view by listing pin numbers or node names in the signal column on the left side of the d isplay screen. For exa m ple, in Fig. 2, we defin ed s everal n od es (INI, OUT I) and various

pins of ICI and IC2 for d isplay. Note that we selected no pins from IC3, a n d only some from ICI a n d IC2. The reason is that too much in formati on ca n be more confusing than not en ough . The point is that, reg ardless whi ch nodes a re display ed, th e entire circuit is tested during simu la tion, and all questionable timing events (glit ches , etc .) a re brought to your attention. Of cours e, after creating a design, you can save it to disk and load it ag ain later.

58

in the file represents one waveform, and you may describe and load as many lines (waveforms) as you wish . The bus file is similar to a line file, except that it is written in hexadecimal notation, and is used primarily to define waveforms for an entire bus. The waveform file consists of statements written in Aldecs proprietary high-level language, and it can be used to create waveforms too complex for the other methods. To use SUSIE's built-in editor, you simply place the cursor over the signal to be edited and manually key in the desired waveform . After the test vector appears satisfactory, you can save it to a line or bus file directly from the screen . However, test vectors created on the screen using Aldecs programming language cannot be saved to a file; you can retain such files only by creating them first with a text editor. After defining and naming a test vector, you can load it into any netlist design entry. Although a test-vector file may contain any number of waveforms, only one file may be loaded at a time. SUSIE also has an internal tenstage binary counter that can be used along with a test-vector file
OBTAINING SUSIE

Test vectors For a design to function, it must have some kind of input; SUSIE's inputs come from test vectors. A test vector is nothing more than a waveform that, when applied to an input, causes something to happen in the circuit. SUSIE can serve up an almos t limi tless variety of test vectors. You create test vectors using ei-

ther an ASCII text editor or SUSIE's built-in test-vector editor. Test vectors may be stored in either a compressed binary format or one of three ASCII formats. The ASCII versions differ both in the format of the file and in the way it is used. The line version is formatted as a string of ls (high) and O's (low) that establishes the timing and shape of the waveform. Each line

As digital circuit-simulation programs go, SUSIE is a real bargain. Butat $995 (optional libraries not ineluded), it's too pricey for the average hobbyist. Fortunately, Aldec offers a free SUSIE demo disk that does everything the full-blown SUSIE package does, buton a smallerscale. Instead of 6000 devices, the demo contains 26 logic devices and seven PLD's, plus a full complement of switches and passive components. Although the demodiskcan'tsimulateeverydigital design situation, the logic types are varied enough that, with prudent part selection, you can test a wide variety of design typesfor free. Table 1 lists the IC's supported by the demo disk. The letters xx stand for any logic technology, le, LS, AS, F, etc. IC modelsinclude setup and hold time, pulse width, edgeto-edge and other propagation delay parameters. R-E

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TABLE 1-DEMO DISK SUPPORTED COMPONENTS 74xxOO 74xx02 74xx04 74xx05 74xx07 74xx08 74xx10 74xx11 74xx20 74xx30 74xx74 74xx85 74xx86 74xx90 74xx138 74xx151 74xx153 74xx157 74xx161 74xx175 74xx193 74xx244 74xx245 74xx279 74xx373 74xx374 10H8 16L8 16R4 20L8 20L10 22V10 32VX10 Quad 2-input NAND gate Quad 2-input NOR gate Hex inverter Hex inverter (OC) Hex buffer (OC) Quad 2-input AND gate Triple 3-input NAND gate Triple 3-input AND gate Dual 4-input NAND gate 8-input NAND gate Dual D-type flip-flop 4-bit magnitude comparato r Quad 2-input XOR gate BCD decade counte r 3-of-8 decoder 8-input multiplexer Dual 4-input multiplexer Quad 2/1 multiplexer Presettable binary counte r Quad D-type flip-flop BCD up/down binary counter Octal driver Three-state Octal bus transceiver Quad S-R latch Octal transparent latch Octal D-type flip-flop three-state PLD PLD PLD PLD PLD PLD PLD

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a n alys is. You ca n preset a ny des ign eleme n t to an in itial logi c s tate , searc h for timing glitches , a n d set breakpoin ts for incremental tim ing measurements . Most s im u lation s u s e the intern al binary cou n ter for the s ignal s ou rce , as we did for our test des ign in Fig . 1. The cou n ter h as ten stages (BO th ro ugh B9), each of which is h alf the frequency of the prec eding stag e . The puls e width ofBO is adjus tab le between 10 pi cos econds and 999 secon ds . For our s im u lation, we se t BO a t 15 ns a n d u s ed Bl (30 n s) as the clo ck. The resulting di splay is shown in Fig. 2, which we will now use to verify our design. At power up (t =O), the ou tput ofICl-b (pin 9) is s et high. On the first clock puls e, the input to pin 13 goes n egative, causing the flipflop to toggl e a n d for ce pin 9 low a n d pin 7 high. That s ets the - stage for lCl-a to res et on the falling ed ge of the s a me clock puls e, which in tum ca uses pin 12 to go low a n d prevents furth er clock pulses from affecting ICl-b. However, IC2-a continues to toggle, sen d in g s ign als to IC2-b until its inpu t s reach a lo gi cal comb ination (pin 11 hi gh, pin 12 low) that cau ses the inverted output (pin 7) to go low on the falling ed g e of the third clock puls e . That for ces ICl-b's pres et input (pin 10) low a n d output (pin 9) high . A half s tate later, ICl-b 's n ew logic state for ces IC2-b 's pin 11 input low. That rele ases th e hold on ICl-b and en a b les the cou n te r to function as a normal state m achine until the forced s tate is reached a gain. The res u lting wave form at OUTI s h ows us that our design does indeed work as predicted.
Using SUSIE to modify a design Unlike many analog a n d digital s im u lators , SUS IE d oesn't need to com p ile th e n etlist b efore it can d o a simulation , and that makes it pos sible to change test vecto rs a n d circ u it con nections without h aving to change th e n etlist. For example, let 's say th at we wanted to m odify ou r des ign so that it was a di vid e-by-3 cou nter in s tead of a divid e-by-5 cou n ter. That is easily done u sing SUSIE's on-screen ed it ing features. Looking at the timing s creen in Fig. 2 , we s ee tha t in or de r to pull

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60

proces s. It is wher e you ge t to see wha t h appens in the circ u it as a result of the a pplied in pu ts. It's also where you learn whether or not you r desi gn will fly. The simulation mode provides numerous fea tu res that s im plify

LISTING 1-NETLIST OF DIVIDEBY3 COUNTER

sockets u1= 74LS112 sockets u2 = 74LS112 sockets u3 = 74LS02 ;signal input lin1, u1/1, u2l13 , u3/8, u3/9 ;divide-by-3 out 1 0u11 , u1/2, u1 /9, u3/5 u1/3, u1/7 u1/6, u3/6 ;U1b preset u1/10, u2/7 u1/13, u3/10 u2l11, u3/2, u3/3, u3/4 u2l12, u3/1 IGND, u1/8, u2/8, u3/7, u1/11 NeC, u1/16, u2l1 6, u3/1 4, u1/4, u1/15, u1/14, u1/12, u2/10, u2/14

WRITING A SUSIE NETLIST

- U ke all circuit-simulatio n p rograms, SUSIE uses a netlist to define the circuit. However, unlike many circuit simulators , which require special tools to create the netlist, SUSIE 's netHst is in pure ASC II, which means all you need to make a SUSIE netlist is a text editor. The process begins with a schematic of the design, (Refer to Fig. 1 in the text for this discu ssion.) First, the circuit's inputs, outputs, and compo nents are identif ied by name and number. Those labels are then entered into the netHst using the format: sockets schematic label = device type, The order of the parts is really immateria l. ' Next , connec tions between devices are listed by component label and pin number; with a comma separating each entry. Again no special order is necessary, and comments (placed after a semicolonfc1m 5e i~ serted in the netlist to help describe large designs . Signal inputs , outputs, and power-supply connections are preceded by a slash. A separate line is required for each node in the circuit (a node is any point where two or more pins or wires connect). However, if the number of connections to a node is greater than will fit on a line, the listing can extend to the next line by ending the first line with an "&" character. There is no limit to the number of lines you can use for a single node , provided the lines are in sequence and linked via the "&H characte r. That's all there is to it. The netlist shown in Listing 2 is ready for simulation. Several schematic-capture programs , inclUding OrCAD and SuperCAD , can generate a SUSIE netlist directly from a screen schematic. R-E

LISTING 2-NETLIST OF D1VIDEBY-5 COUNTER

sockets u1:;;;; 74LS112 sockets u2 =74LA112 sockets u3 = 74LS02

lin1, u1/1, u2/13, u3/8, u3/9, u2l1 ;signal input lout 1, u1/2, u1/9 ;divide-by-5 out u1/3, u1/7 u1/5, u2/3, u3/11 u1/6, u3/6 u1 /10, '0217 ;U1b preset u1/12, u3/13 u1/1 3, u3/10 u2/5, u3/12 u2/6, u3/5 u2/11, u3/2, u3/3, u3/4 u2/12, u3/1 IGND, u1/8, u2/8, u3/7, u1/11 N CC, u1/16, u2l 16, u3/14, u1/4, u1/15, u1 /14, u2/4, u2/15, u2/2, u2/10, u2/14

th is off we have to forc e the break at t= 1.5 instead of at t= 2.5. We ca n test our theory by applying a custom-made test vector to pin 10 of ICl-b . The test vector can be created in several ways, but the best m ethod for our s itu ation is to use the Aldec programming language. First we look at the display to d etermine where the ch a n ges must occur. For our application, the test vector must have eight high pulses followed by four low pulses . The Aldec equation for that waveform is (H8L4)l00, where H8 specifies eight highs , L4 specifies four lows, and 100 indicates that the preceding pattern should be repeated one hundred times. The repeat gives us plenty of time to play with t h e circuit -before running out of signal. To perform the modified simulation, we load the original design into SUSIE and apply the test vector to pin 10 ofIC1-b (Fig. 3). Analysis of the timing display shows that pin 12 of IC1-b needs to be tied high so that IC1-b isn't affected by IC2-a. You could go into the netlist and change pin 12's connections, but SUSIE's editor lets you assign IC pins or nodes to keyboard keys that manually override the design stimulus. In our case, we assigned the a key to pin 12, then toggled the input high for the simulation. The result of this simulation, shown in Fig. 3, shows that our assumptions were correct and that the new design does work: For every three input pulses, the circuit produces one output pulse, and the duty cycle is 50%. The netlist for that cir cu it is shown in Listing 1. The next step is to alter the circuit so that it generates the test vector itself. This can also be done in SUSIE using connectivi ty markers-screen notations that tell SUSIE to make a connection betweenlike markers . As it turns out, the only change we have to make in the original design is move pin 5 of IC3 from IC2-a to pin 9 of IC1-b u s in g t he " a a" co nnect iv ity markers shown in Fig. 4. The rules for connectivity are: If you mark an input for screen connectivity, all previous connections to the input are severed; if you m ark an output for screen

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connectivi t y, it serves the new sourc e plus a ll the or igina l sources . Next we disconnect the Aldec test vector a n d run a new s im u lation, as shown in Fig. 4. Once again. the simulation verifies the cir cuit changes. A revised schematic of the new divide-by-three counter is shown in Fig. 5. Advanced features SUSIE also has a host of advanced features that are used to pinpoint d esign defects , test for worst-case conditions. and in put data from or output it to the real world. Here is a brief description of each advanced feature . Switches placed in the circuit can be opened and closed from the simulation screen , maki ng "what -if" and a lte rn a te -con figuration designs a snap to verify. The timing selection a llows you to set IC propagation de lays to any value for worst-case evaluation. You can also change IC technology (for example. from LS to AS), save and load IC propagation data files . a nd incl u de the effect of temperature an d load in g on th e simulation. Glitches that occur as a result of propagation delay. timing violati on s , or floating inputs are au tomatically displayed and p in pointed-even if the pin involved isn't part of the simu lation display. Bus conflicts. where two or more outputs vie fo r simultaneous use of the bus. automatica lly produce a warning message that can b e used to pinpoint the conflicting signals. Fault s imulation, which shows all stuck inputs and outputs, is available as an option. To speed the lengthy process of fault simulation, SUSIE lets you d ivide the job among an unlimited number of unconnected PC's. Hardcopy printout of screen simulations can be made using either a dot -matrix or laser printer. The logic analyzer option lets you feed test vectors from a hardware design (breadboard or ~ PC board) to SUSIE for analysis z and d ebugging . a? Whil e SUSIE 's s i m u la ti o n Io powers make it an attractive al~ ternative to breadboarding. its UJ real strength is that it lets you r o creative talent run free-without Ci any physical restrictions. R-E

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62

FOR A TEST TECHN ICIAN OR ENG I -

n eer, using test leads with a multim e t r m ay b e a n everyday exper ience. Th ose ofyou wh o use multim e te r s on a co nsiste nt basi s kn ow how important it is to use th e ri ght k in d of test lead. probe an d probe tip. Those less exper ien ced might b e incli n ed to us e a ny old prob e. We'll s ho w you why th at's not a good idea , and then we'll tak e a look at what's cu rren tly availa b le to h elp yo u make th right decision in choosin g you r test probes .
The basics There are four basic requirem ents that determine th e quality ofagood testlead . Those requirem en ts a re .L, Reliability-th e test lead hould b ite through the oxide, dirt. corros ion a nd insula tion or con formal coating to make good contact with a lead, test point or wire. Hold the con nection- the test lead should kee p a conti nuous. nonintermit tent contact. Dep e nd abil ity- the test conn ection must be in s ula ted from other devices or equipment. a nd the co nnections s h ou ld n't pull loose. That's a particul arl y frustrating problem. especially when you're forced to stop testing several ti mes to reconnect the lea ds. A "hot" lead SWinging loose can a lso be a danger, whi ch leads us to the n ext poi nt. Safety-testing can be inheren tly dangerous in many cases, s o it's im po rtant that the equ ipmen t be as safe as poss ible. Those four points aren't lis ted in orde r of priori ty; they are interd ep ende n t n eces s iti es. A good contact does n' t accomplis h anyth ing if you h ave 1500 volts ha nging loos e! With those fou r basic req u iremen ts in m ind, we'll take a look at d ifferent pro be ti ps, whi ch actually make the test contact, as well as b ody design a n d in ter connection s. Types of probe tips On e of the most common ly u sed tips is the b rass -n otched type . s hown in Fig . l-a. That type of tip is n ormally a O,08-inch d iameter brass rod , an inch or less
- Bill Hansen is an enginee ring supervisor for In Pomona, a company specializ ing in test lead kits and accessories for digital multimeters.

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in length, with a conicallyshaped arrow-head on the end. Brass is a good current conductor with a very low voltage drop across the contact point. It's relatively soft so it can conform to the test point with some grab, and not slide away too easily. In addition, the notch can lock onto a lead or wire, if that's what you're testing. The notched tip is small enough to fit into tight spaces and can handle most loads it's subjected to. A dog-leg microtip, shown in Fig. I-b, is useful for probing high-density PC boards that use surface mount technology (SMT). It lets you dodge around components and provides a "springiness" that enables you to move the probe handle slightly without losing your contact point. Extendable versions allow you to reach several inches down into a circuit, perhaps to get around a power supply or other object. Since these long, thin tips are insulated, they are not likely to cause shorts. A sharp needle-point tip, shown in Fig. l-c, offers a lot of advantages. A sharp tip can penetrate oxides or insulation easily and makes a good connection. lt's made of stainless steel so it's strong, even springy, and easy to handle . The sharpness of the point digs in and grabs hold of the test point, and tends to stick and not slide off. One drawback is that steel is not the best conductor, and the sharp point means you can't drive too much current through it or it will burn up. A shouldered microtip, shown in Fig. I-d, provides avery small needle point, which is ideal for piercing insulation, while leaving only a very small hole. The IC leg, shown in Fig. l-e, is a specialty tip, which is a sharp needle point protected by insulating plastic on each side. As with the needle points, it digs in and holds in place while the insulation protects against shorts. This is an excellent probe tip for contacting IC leads. Alligator clips, shown in Fig. If, are perhaps the most common. Nobody likes alligator clips but everyone uses them. Because of their size, they don't fit into tight spaces very well. The clip's weight acts as a lever that tends to pull

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J-hooks, with a spring-loaded insulation sheath, can really grab a component lead or wire and hold on well. That type of probe tip is shown in Fig. I-g. They come in maxi, mini, and micro sizes to adapt to different jobs. Gold-plated beryllium-copper alloy makes an excellent contact. Don't accept J-hooks of base metal; the savings aren 't worth it. The spring-loaded sheath is a safety factor as well as a mechanical aid for a good hold. Their advantages are obvious. The disadvantage is a slightly higher price than straight tips. In very close quarters, with tightly spaced component leads, J-hooks can also present a size problem. Pincers, shown in Fig. I-h, were designed as a J-hook replacement for use in tighter spaces. The "U" shaped tips are gold-plated beryllium copper and are heat treated to act as a spring. They reach around and grab onto component leads . Again, a spring loaded sheath provides a safety advantage and protects against shorting to adjacent leads . The disadvantage of a pincers tip is that they are more expensive then simpler straight tips. Spade lugs, shown in Fig . I-r, can be screwed down at a binding post, giving you the advantage of hands-free operation to turn on power, throw your switches and make your measurements. In specific applications they let you hook one or both sides of your multimeters and not worry about making or keeping contact. The battery clip, shown in Fig. I-j, was not really designed for batteries, but is the common descriptive name used in industry. It lets you grab onto large nuts or bolts and holds on strong. Probe design Many of the tips we have described are available permanently installed in special purpose probes. Some are available as "slide on" tips (Fig. I-k), which allow a common probe body to be interchanged with a variety of probe tips and some with "popjack" connections (Fig. 1-1) to plug into a common probe body. Permanently connected probe tips offer advantages to anyone who often or repetitively performs the same test step. You just

FIG. 1-EACH OF THESE PROBE TIPS HAS THEIR OWN disti nct advantage when used in a specific testing application. All of these probe tips shou ld meet most of your testing needs.

itself loose. Their jaws tend to be out in the open, contributing to inadvertent contact with neighboring objects, unless they are sheathed. Alligator clips come in different sizes and, in the right applications, they are useful.

64

pick up your sturdy probe and do the job . The disadvantage is a lack of versatili ty. Either you'll have to try and "make-do" with the wrong probe occasionally or you'll have to buy a number of different probes to meet each situation. In fact, if you do a large amount of testing, having a collection of probes to meet each situation is a wise decision. A number of kits of probes selected to match various applications are available at good prices. Slide-on tips give you versatility. You can use a needlesharp tip when you need it, and a spade -lug when your need changes. They provide big advantages to anyone that usually works with high-voltage equipment and only occasionally with low voltage. A particularly useful slide-on tip is the insulated extendable tip shown in Fig. l-m. The extendable tip is able to get into those . deep, hard-to-reach spaces without the worry of shorting of nearby components. The disadvantage of slide-on tips is an outgrowth ofthe advantage-the slide-ons can also slide off. The pop-jack connection offers a solution to that problem. It allows you to interchange probe tips but holds them in place tighter. It offers a metal malefemale connection with a friction grab, plus the plastic insulating sheaths actually deform and create a seal. The pop-jack connection requires five or more pounds of pull to dislodge it , although if you twist it first, it parts easier. It's somewhat like a Chinese finger puzzle in its holding ability.
Field repair Test probes that are field repairable have a distinct advantage over those that are not. Most test probes that are non-field repairable are insert molded, with the test leads permanently embedded in the handle. That method of construction can present several problems. Most problems occur when the lead wire frays where it enters the handle. Once that happens, the probe must be discarded and replaced. There can also be a safety hazard during the manufacturing process. A stray wire can sometimes occur at the tip-and-lead

ptember ply latchthanks to me all of s to try. is month .

, . . !II! POMONA'S MAXI-KIT CONTAINS a w ide assortment of probes fo r the professional DMM
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junction on the test probe, which is usually a crimp. When molded into a handle, that stray wire can be very close to the surface of the probe and, particularly at high voltages, presents a serious shock hazard. At Pomona, the tip-and-leadwire assembly is threaded into a hollow handle and the tip is then held in place with a screw-down chuck . Therefore, it will never short through to the probe handle, and the probe is actually field repairable. If the lead wire is bent, broken or frayed, you cut it off and re -solder the wire to the tip, insert it back into the handle and chuck it in place. Figure l -n shows a drawing of a field re pairable probe tip. Connections Connection of the probe to the multimeter is through wire and a standard banana plug. The wire must be properly insulated and have a low enough resistance to adequately pass signals. Pomona test leads use double-insulated, l8-gauge wire, which more than meets all product safety requirements. Various insulating materials include: standard PVC, a superior PVC that's more flexible , or silicone, which is both more flexible and much more resistant to high temperatures, which is usually a problem when using a soldering iron. There's more to a banana plug than you might think. High-

quality banana springs are made of a single piece of heat treated, spring quality, beryllium copper. Most banana plugs on the market, however, are made of materials with bus spring retention, which makes less dependable and less reliable connections. Un insulated banana plugs are still available for multimeters, but the move is away from them, which is all for the better. A bare, uninsulated plug swinging loose while "hot" is just too dangerous to accept. For safety reasons, we urge you to use insulated plugs. Most users, after they finish testing, wrap the leads around the meter and put them away until the next time. That means the leads are getting bent at a 90 angle, banged against a drawer or shelf, and eventually tend to break or fray. Leads that are molded at 90 from the sheathed plug will prevent that problem.

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Wrapup te vlrtuall, Multimeter manufacturers , at prett; have a bad reputation for test peed-bu leads. The fact is, your meter probably doesn't come with the best selection of leads for your ? specific needs. Typically, you should plan on investing some money on additional test leads. 0 ardware Testing can be inherently dan- ~ r~t'Y to: gerous, particularly at higher ~ voltages . The closer you get to to having the correct tool for each ~ 85552 task, the safer and easier it is to iO 3 perform your testing. R-E ~
65

way are easily created. While the UV photopolymer normally used is both expensive and hard to get. a possible hacker substitute could be the Merigraph photopolymer used for rubber stamps. and available by way of Gratham or R.A. Stewart. A second generation visible light photopolymer is being developed at Dupont. and one major system which uses these is Quadrax. Advantages of the visible photopolymer include its lower viscosity. the ability to use a cheaper laser. and (with proper safety precautions) being able to see what you are doing . Because of the lower viscosity. you can also raise the liquid level. rather than actually moving what you have already produced . While these liquid-vat methods do work. they are limited in accuracy to several mils, are rather costly. and end up severely restricting your choice of materials . A fresh . different. and totally dry approach to desktop prototyping gets used by DTM. Here a granular powder of certain waxes or any of a number of plastics is selec-

tively hardened by an infrared laser in a process known as sintering. Sintering simply melts the surface of the granules so they stick together. In addition to being cleaner and simpler. you have a wide variety of possible material options . including real metals. Many powders can be reground and recycled, and they are NAMES AND NUMBERS Alltronics 2300 Zanker Road #0 San Jose. CA 95131 (408) 943-9773
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far cheaper than the photopolymers. Let's see . a few loose ends : Other approaches to Santa Claus machines include photochemical machining of thin layers and various other "gasket" techniques that get bonded together to produce co mpos ite o bjects . One think tank do ing active instant prototype development is Micro Linear 2092 Concourse Drive San Jose, CA 95131 (408) 4335200
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DON LANCASTER
HANDS-ON BOOKS
Hardware Hacker Reprints II Ask The Guru Reprints I or II CMOS Cookbook TIL Cookbook Active Filter Cookbook Micro Cookbook vol I or II Lancaster Classics Library Enhancing your Apple I or II AppleWrlter Cookbook Apple Assembly Cookbook Incredible Secret Money Machine LaserWriter Reference (Apple) PostScript Cookbook (Adobe) PostScript Ref. Man. (Adobe) PostScript Prog. Design (Adobe) Type I Font Format (Adobe) Real World Postscript (Roth) 24.50 24.50 18.50 16.50 15.50 16.50 99.50 17.50 19.50 21.50 10.50 19.50 16.50 22.50 22.50 15.50 22.50

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Ba telle, w hile conven tions and se minar s are som etime s don e by the CAo/CIM Roundtable. On e of the many sources for t raditional CA DI CAM support software appears to be Control Automation . One thing that's totally obvious to me is that the PostS cript languag e wi ll playa majo r role in the futu re of des ktop proto typi ng . Ob viou s reasons here are PostS cript's nearly total devi ce inde pen de nce , its incredible graphical performa nce (especially for three dimensions) , and its ability to let you r favorite el-cheapo word process or co mpletely and totally blow away virt ually any of today 's costly CADICAM packages. For our co ntes t this month , just add to our Sant a Cl aus machine dialog in so me useful way. There wi ll be all of t he us ual In cre di ble S e cret M oney Machine book prizes going to the dozen or so top ent ries . with an all-expen se-paid (FO B Thatcher, AZJ tinaja quest fo r two goi ng to t he very best of all. A s usual, please se nd yo ur wr itte n e nt ries t o m e h ere at Synerg etics , in st e ad o f Radio-

An incredible data book

Cert ainly one of the most beautiful, large st , and most impre ssive data books I've ever run across is the inc redi ble new ASSP for Audio and Video Applications data boo k offered by Hita chi. It is crammed to the rafte rs with unique new hacker integrated circ uits . Picking a sample more or less at rando m. Fig. 1 shows an audiovisual sw itch using their new HA 11508 chip. This beast is hard to describe. It simultaneo usly swi tc hes one vid eo and two ste reo audio channels from your choice of three sources . As Fig. 2 shows, there are two se parate tr iple outp uts, selec ted per the CTRL 1 and CTRL 2 lines . The audio on the second tripl e out put can get mut ed using the mute input. This dude is intended to se lec t three audiovisua l sources inside a TV set and route them to two pos sible destinations. Eut it cries out to be used as part of a hom e- or low-endstud io control cen te r o r a switc hing bay. The quality specs seem fairly impressive. Wh ile a 12-volt su pp ly is

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FIG. 2-THE TRUTH TABLE for the triple audio switcher. Logic signals on the control inputs decide wh ich input gets selected. An optional mute input turns off the audio only on output II.

recommended, anyt hing from 8 to 13 vo lts can be used . Al l the inputs and outp uts are supposed to be capac it or- c oupl ed. Sin ce the sw itc hing tim es and all th e overlaps are not speci fied , thi s c hi p appea rs t o be ma inly inte nde d fo r use in static switc hing o r source se lectio n. Instead of bei ng app lied to chroma-key or picture-insert ion applicat ions . Naturally, for any higher-quality sw itc hing, full double-sided PC boards with lot s of grou nd plane are an abso lute must. More on data compression There su re was plenty of ongoing hacker interest in all of that data-compression st uff we looked at a few mon ths back and in t he Hardware Hacker II repr ints . Mu c h of the action today ce nters on the new Discrete Cosine Transform, especially in highreso lut io n co lo r co mpute r and TV disp lays . Figure 3 is a bibliography of so me of th e heavi er duty papers on th e DCT. St art out w ith Chri s Ci arcia's

introd uctory tu to rial in Circuit Cellar Ink, and then go on to the fancier stuff shown through Interlibrary Loan at your loca l library. To co mpress any video image , individual 8 x 8 pixel blocks have their discrete cosine transform taken, by us ing either hardware or software . The result of th is tra nsform is a list of frequencies and amp litudes . Any change so minor that the eye can 't see it anyway gets replaced w ith a zero, leaving a sparse data set. Put anot her way, w hat yo u don 't know (or see) won 't hurt yo u. The sparse data set then gets furth er co mpac te d usi ng Hu ffm an or similar techniques. The net result is a vid eo co mpress ion in t he 30:1 range wi th out cau s in g s ig ni f ica nt vis ua l deqradatron , The reasons for co mpression is to reduce yo ur disk sto rage time and your co mmunication time . Far mo re impo rtan t , th is sort of data co mpres sion is essen t ial to squash an HDTV image down in to reaso nable ba ndw idth channe ls. So knowing and understanding video comp ress ion is an essential part of the new multimedia revolutio n which is combining video and co mputing . Two so urces of DCT chips include C-Cube and SGS, while some useful (but very much slower) do-it-yourself softwa re rout ines are shown in the Ci arcia art icle . Digital sine-wave generator Hardw are hac ke rs interes te d in co mmunications are really getting off o n a great new integrated circuit from

RADIO MANUAL

SHORT WAVE

Official 1934

A Fast Algorithm for t he Discrete Cosine T rans form C.H. Smith, IEEE Transactions on Communications Sept. 198 7 pp 1004 -1009 . Image Comp ression fo r Hig h Speed Network Transmission C. Oirac la, Circuit Cellar Ink, Aug/Sep 1990, pp 19-26. Teleconferencing K. Rao, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1985. Dig ital Cod ing of Wav eforms N. Jay ant , Prentice Half, 1984. A New Wave in App lied Mathematics B. Ci pra, Science 24 Aug 1990, pp 858 -859 . Survey of Adaptive Image Cod ing Tec hniqu es A. Habbibi, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Nov 1977 , pp 1275 -1284 . Ad vances in Pic ture Coding H. Mussman n, Proceedings of the IEEE, Ap ril 1985, pp 523-548 . Pr ogressive T ra ns missi on of G ray-Sca le and B inary Pictures K. Knowlonton , Proceedings of the IEEE, j uly 1980, pp 885-896. Pred ictive Coding Based on Effic ient Mo tion Es timation R. Sr inivasan, IEEE Cont. Communications. May 14 1984, pp 521-526. OCT Processing of NTSC Composite Video Signals A. Ploysongsang , IEEE Trans. on Communicati ons, March 1982 , pp 462479.

simple, highperformance oldtime shortwave radios! All of the secrets a re here : th e circu it diagrams, parts layout, coil sp ecifica tions, con structi on d et ail s , op eration hints, and much more! This is a co m pila tion of shortwave construction articles from "Short Wave Craft" magazines published in the 20's & 3 0's. It' s wal l-to-wall "h ow-to." Included a re circ u it diagrams, photo graph s , a n d design secre ts of all shortwave receivers being manufactured in 193 4 including some of the most famous: SW-3, the SW-5 -rhrtll Box", the deForest KR-l , the Hammurland "Comet Pro", and many more. Also included is a n ew chapter showing ho w you can u se transistors to r epla ce hard- to-find vacu u m tubes. You'll even s ee the circ u it t h a t was lashed together on a table top one night using junk bo x parts, a h ai r curler and alligator clips. Atta ched to an anfl tenna strung a cros s the basement ce ilin g and a 9 volt battery, si gn a ls started popping in like crazy. In a cou ple of minutes a n urgent message from a s hip's captain off Seattle over 1500 m iles away was h eard asking for a navigator to help him through shallow water! These small regenerative re ceivers a re extremely simple, but do they eve r perform! This is a must book for the experi men te r, the survivalist who is concerned ab ou t ba sic communication, s ho rtwave listener s, h am radio op er a tor s who co llect old r ec eivers, a n d jus t ab out a ny one interested in old- time radio. Gr eat book! Fun to read! On e of the .b es t old- ti me ra dio book s to tUITl u p in years. Heavily illustra ted! Order a copy toda y! 8 1/2 x 11 paperback 260 pages on ly $ 15.70 p os tpai d !

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FIG. 3-A FEW OF THE RECENT PAPERS on video-image compression and the OCT discrete cosine transform.

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Micro Linear. This is their ML2035 Programmable Sine-wave Generator. C leverly disgu ised as an eight-pin mini-DIP, this new chip is an $8, full performance, 16-bit digital sine-wave generator. It has a 21-bit phase accumulator and a 9-bit sine lookup table built into it! The device can easily produce any sine wave from 1 Hz to 25 kHz in 1-Hz steps , and its seria l interface mates beautifu lly with virtually any computer or microcontroller. Figure 4 shows the extremely simple circui t. A split supply of + 5 and - 5 volts is needed. The output frequency resolution will be: fO UT = f XTA L/8,388,608 Thus, you would use the 8.388608MHz crystal to get a 1-Hz resolution . Or you could apply any external frequency up to 12 MHz. Your output sine -wave frequency is determined by the 16-bit digita l word you last se lected . For instance, a digital "1" wou ld get you 1 Hz, whi le a " 5623 " (or a hex $15Fn will get you 5.623 kHz. Your output is a clean and low-distortion sine wave of around 12volts peak-to-peak. In order to save on package pins , your digital control word is entered serially. There are three pins involved . The SERIAL INPUT DATA (SID) pin accepts one data bit at a time, the least signifi cant bit first. The SCK or SERIAL CLOCK accepts each new data bit on its rising edge . Finally, the LAT or LATCH pin stores the input serial data stream on its falling edge . This should interface beautifully with the game -paddle port of an Apple lie , or anywhere else you have three I/O lines available from a computer or microcontroller. There 's also an ML2036 in a larger package with some extra features at slight ly higher cost. One obvious tip : You do enter the frequency in binary or in hex, and not in decimal! Don 't laugh. That's a very common hacker mistake. As a second contest for this month, just te ll me something different you wou ld do with this new (fJ o ultra-cheap, ultra -simple, and ultra Z precise digital sine-wave generator. o a:

SANTA CLAUS MACHINE RESOURCES Batelle

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t3

New tech literature

Schaevitz has a free Handbook of Measurement and Control that gives the fundamentals of LVDT position ing sensors . From SGS, there 's a

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new data book on Protection Devices that includes surge and transient suppressors. Texas Instruments has a new and free linear products sample packet on their Excaliburseries of JFET operational amplifiers . Two great surplus flyers include Alltronics, who are big on powerful magnets and computerized hamsters (their dead ones are cheaper) ; and

Marlin Jones , who has some new tilt angle sensors, parabo lic mirrors , LCD disp lays, c lutches, and regulators . Our featured free trade journ als for this month include Circuit Design on printed-circuit layout techn iques, and Nickel. devoted to stainless steel and all other nickel applications . Sti ll at the same old sta ll after all these years , the Castolite people of-

8.398 MHz Crys tal

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ANALOG OUTPUT SINEWAVE

u\s\t\on and oata 1'cq Eas'l VJa'l control the

What Is the ABus?
ABus is a system for connecting devices to your computer. Whatever your computer. use ABus for: Sensing. Detecting or reading a switch closure or voltage presence. Measuring . Determining a force. frequency. temperature. weight. or any other quantity. Control. Open or close a circuit. Switch any type of electrical device. Adjust level or position.

ML2035

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Why should you choose ABus?

It's affordable. From a $65 Digital Input Card to a $299 Motor Controller. you get much more than your money's worth. It's simple. Easy to connect to your computer and to your application. Designed to adapt to your software easily. It's versatile. You mix and match low cost boards to fit your project. It's proven. Thousands of applications installed around the world.

FIG. 4-A DECEPTIVELYSIMPLE DIGITAL SINE-WAVE GENERATOR. This $8 chip does a full zr-en phase addition and a 512-level table lookup for an outstanding output quality. Resolution is 1 Hz over a 1Hz to 25-kHz range!

fer all sorts of castable resins and mold produ cts. One good way to get start ed with the castable resins is to pick up thei r $75 prod uct sample and evaluation kit. The Circuit Works people have an inte rest ing c o nd uc t iv e pe n tha t w rites in silver ink. The main use for t his unusual gadge t is for printed-circuit -board repairs. For so me additional mechanical stuff. 3M has an interesting brochure on microcapsule technology. while free plasti c-tubing samples are newly available through Ne wAge Industries. And PM Research has a fine cata log on ste am-engine kits . Turning to my own stuff. I have combined my seven top hacking books int o a Lancaster Library at a

very special price . These include the TTL Cookb ook. CMOS Cookbook. A ctive Filter Cook book. M icro Cookbook I. Micro Cookbook II. Hardware Hacker II. and. of cou rse . The Incredible Secret Money Machine. Finally. I do have a new and free mailer for you wh ich includes dozens of insi der hardware-hack ing secret sou rces. Write or call for info. Our usual reminder here that most of the items mentioned appear either in the Names and Numbers or in the Santa Claus Machines sidebar. As always, this is your column and you can get technical help and offthe-wall networking per that Need Help? box. The best calling times are weekdays 8-5, Mountain Standard Time. Let's hear from you . R-E

Call for a Catalog (800) 221-0916 A Sampling of our Products

Relay Card: 8 individually controlled relays. RE-140: $142 3A at 12OVAC. SPST. High-Speed 12-blt AID converter: 8 10ps analog inputs. 0-5V. amp. FA-154: $179 8 Bit AlD: 8 inputs. 0-5.1V in 20mV steps. 7500 conversions/second . AD-142: $142 12 Bit AlD: 4V. On-board amp. 7 readings/sec.1 input. expandableAN-146: $153 Temperature sensor:O-200 TS-111: $12 Digital Input: 8 opto-isolated. Read voltage presence or switch closures. IN-141: $65 Latched Input: Each of 8 inputs is latched to catch switch closures L1-157: $85 Digital Output Driver: 8 outputs: 250mA at 12V. For relays. solenoids ... ST-143: $78 Smart Quad Stepper Controller: On board processor controls 4 motors simultaneously. Simple English commands to set position. speed, units. read limits. etc. SC-149: $299 D/A: 4 Channel. 8 Bit Output DA-147: $149 24 line TTL I/O: Connect TTL 0/5V levels or switches. (8255A) DG-148: $72 32 Channel Multiplexer: Switches up to 32 channels to a single common. MX-155: $83 Touch Tone Decoder: PH-145: $87 Counter Timer: 3 16-bit counters. Count pulses. measure frequency CT-150: $132 ABus Prototyplng card: PR-152: $16 Odin Software: For PC's Control relays from inputs or time schedulesOS-189: $129 Motherboard: For 5 cards. MB-120: $108 ABus Adapters: IBM XT/AT & compatibles. AR-133: $69 MlcroChannel Adapter: AR-170: $93 Parallel Adapters also available for Apple II. Commodore 64.128. TRS-SO sA-129: $149 Serial Adapter:RS-232 serial Processor: Built in BASIC for offline monitoring. logging . SP-127: $189

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AUDIO UPDATE
Amplifier Transfer Functions: A Strange Audio Controversy
LARRY KLEIN

y IEEE dictionary defines transfer function as " a mathematical, graphic, or tabular statement of the infl uence that a system or element has on a signal or action compared at input and output termina ls..." The somewhat stilted language refers essentially to whatever differences occur between the input and output signal s of a circuit. It may seem strange that an innocuous technical term lIike "transfer function " could in another guise excite such passions in the audiophile community. It all began, as have several other audio controversies in the past decade, with the work of Bob Carver, former president of Phase Linear, and presently the president and chief engineer of the Carver Corporation .

complained in letters to audio magazines that Carver was illegitimately monkeying with the integrity of the audio signal, that the effects achieved were far from realistic , and that the recommended listener position was unduly restrictive. However, buyers of the Carver sonic-holograph preamp simply enjoyed its effect, unt roubled by the objections of the purists .
MUSIC SIGNAL

The Carver Corporation When Carver founded the company that bears his name , he produced two products that both excited 'audio consumers and rattled a few cages . The first to hit the market was a "sonic holography" preamplifier that provided an enormous extension of the sonic sound stage far beyond normal speaker spacing. In fact, on certain program material. the effect is as though two invisible side -wall speakers have been switched in. The holo graphic illusion is ach ieved by electronically nullifying the interaural crosstalk that occurs with conven tional speaker setups . Normaily, the sound from the right speaker reaches your left ear and the sound from the left reaches your right ear ; the Carver circuit injects some out -of-phase left signa l into the right channel and vice versa, thus electronically canceling, (f) o when you are properly located, the Z acoustic "leakage" between both o c: channels. ICarver's sonic holograph prompo UJ ted a host of " me-too " products, and -l UJ o variations on the idea are still found in the products of some companies. o -c Not surprisingly, purist audiophiles c:
76

NORMAL SPKR

NORMAL SPKR

Fig. 1. CONNECTION FOR COMPARING one channel of a reference amplifier to one channel of the modified amp. The normal speakers, whose purpose is to provide a typical load, are placed out of earshot, The null speaker plays only the difference between the two channels . Theoretically, two identical channels will produce no sound from the null speaker. A meter connected across the null speaker has revealed nulls as low as - 70 dB.

The Carver challenge Bob Carver's next project was the M-400 "magnetic-fie ld" amp lifier. Truly a revolutionary product, it was a 200-watt-per-channel amplifier embodied in a 7-inch cube weighing a mere 10 pounds . Once again, audiophiles who tended to judge an amplifier's quality by its cost-and the severity of the hernia you got trying to lift it- were outraged . Obvious ly, there had to be something wrong with

the M-400's sound that did not show up in conventional testing, yet was surely audible to anyone with ears golden enough to hear it. Bob Carver told me several times during that period how distressed he was by the self-selected audio esthetes who felt that he was, at best, a designer of mid-fi equipment. Carver set out to prove them wrong . He devised and demonstrated a nullification circuit (not unlike the Hafler circuit discussed in these pages several years ago) that would null out all similarities in the signa l between any two amplifier channe ls leaving only whatever differences might exist in phase shift, frequency response', distortion , and/or noise to be heard . I attended at least two of Carver's demonstrations and came away convinced that his amplifier was essen tially perfect in respect to absence of any audible problems . In truth , I was not terribly surprised by Carver's test results since I believe that almost any well-designed amplifier when operated with a reasonable speaker load and within its power rating w ill sound like any other amplifier also operated under the same conditions . (That is also Carver's view, but he hesitates to propagate it for fear of further alienating the irrational self-appointed audio elite) In any case , Carver made his point among those wi lling to be convinced. But Carver's test con vinced none of the audio fundamentalists whose ultimate faith resides in what they think they hear under their own essentially uncontrolled listening conditions . For this group, only prolonged listening to one amplifier and then the other wi ll allow proper evaluations to be made . Anyone who has attempted to make scientific subjective assessments in any product area knows of the pitfalls of such a procedure, but nevertheless , that is the preferred audioph ile evaluation technique . Okay, thought Carver, let's approach the prob lem from a different

direction . He iss ued a challenge to the editors of Stereophile magazine: You pick out an esteemed high-end power amp lifier-tube or transistor-and I wi ll duplicate its sound by minor mod ificatio ns of one of my curre nt $700 mag netic-fie ld ampl ifiers . Carver flew out to Stereophile s Santa Fe, NM, offices and set up his equ ipment in a nearby mo te l, and S tereophile broug ht over a mass ive $5,000 tube amplifier to serve as the refere nce . Seve ral days late r, Bob e me rge d f ro m his instrumen t- and parts -cluttered mote l room with the mod if ied Carver a mp lif ier w hose so und he claimed exac tly matched t hat of S tereophile s audiop hile tub e amp lifier. Here co mes the s urprisi ng part: A fte r hours of comparison listening, th e f l a b b er g a s t e d ed i tors of Stereophile reluc tant ly agreed t hat Carver had acco mp lished just w hat he claimed he wo uld. The so und of th e two amp lifiers was indistinguishable even w ith the " best available" assoc iated equipme nt and speakers! The implicat ions of w hat Carver had done was not lost o n those w ho had participated in the event. How co uld Carver's a mp lif ier d up licate t he so und of the reference , w ithout the use of go ld-p lated con nec tors and c irc uit boards, oxygen -free coppe r w ire , capacito rs w ith spec ia l dielect rics , and met al-fi lm res istors, and all the other magical elemen tsincluding tu bes- that are fo und in audiophile amp lifie rs? Co uld it be, as Carver claimed, that the o nly thing necessary was t o get t he proper tra nsfer function ? Now for t he un surpr isin g part. Up on ref lection , reco nsiderat ion, and relisteni ng to t he origi nal modified Carve r amp plus other samp les that Carve r ha d m o d if i ed s im ila r ly, Stereop hile s staff dec ided tha t the amp lif iers rea lly did n 't so und alike afte r all. How co uld t hey, w hen the basic premise of the magazine (and high-end audio) suggests the existence of subtle, mysterious audible differences that differentiate audioph ile equip me nt from that produced by the "mass merc handisers" such as Carver. You wipe out t hose differences and you obv iously w ipe out the justif ication fo r overpriced and overdes igned high-end audio equ ipment. I asked Bob exactly w hat he does to matc h the so und of two amp lifiers . Essent ially, he said, t he differences

he's eliminating are all in the spectra l domain . However, that involves more than simply match ing the freq uencyresponse characteristics of two amplifiers . Every amplifier has a charac teristic comp lex input and output impedance that causes sma ll frequency response var iat io ns when dr iving vario us speakers and whe n being driven by various input components. Matching the sound of two amp lifiers cons ists esse ntia lly of matching those impedance characteristics. It isn't necessary to wo rk out the reasons fo r the impedance characteristics of the reference amp, on ly to dup licate them .

Postscript
I thought that Carver's approach to amp lifier matching wou ld make an interest ing story and I offered it to Audio magazine. The editor, whom I've known for years, turned me down flat. W hy? His belief system , like those of the editors of Stereophile, wou ld not perm it him to accept that Carver's feat was poss ib le. And a fina l note: S ince Stereophile recanted, they have, in Carver's view, constantly attacked his prod ucts in ed itorial co mments and reviews . That has led indirect ly to a series of legal claims and counterc laims , w hich, are now being worked out in court . R-E

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DRAWING BOARD
Let's keep our DTMF generator circuit as simple and as elegant as possible.

ust abou t everyo ne who ow ns a comp uter has had to dea l w ith plug-in cards at one time or another. Back in the old days, there were no such thin gs as ASI C' s (applicatio n spec ific integrat ed circu its) , and it was even rare to see a board w ith PAL's (programmable logic arrays) on it. M ost of the board des igners and ma nufacture r s produ c ed products that were constructed entirely around recogni zable hardware. That usually meant that you 'd see lots of 74-series logic on the board with an occasional EPROM (a 2708) to handle unusual gat ing req uirements , data tables , and so on. Things aren 't like that any more . Modern boards , and most modern electron ic prod ucts. are now built arou nd c us tom s ilico n since t he failure rate is a lot lower and the co st of production is less as well. This is good fo r t he consu me r si nce t he produ cts are a lot more reliable and less expens ive. A VGA card is an ext remely complex circuit but you 'll find the parts co unt to be minimal.

The down side of all th is is that it's next to impossible to fix any of the newer boards. You not only can' t get the AS IC 's that form the heart of the des ign but, even if you co uld, very few (if any) of such newer boa rds are delivered with a sc hematic and circuit description. The reason I'm mentioning th is is because the state of board design has led a lot of peopl e to assume that discrete design is a thin g of the past. That's just not t rue since even t he most co mplex and custo m des igned boards start out in life as a load of discrete ci rc uitry buil t aroun d th e same MSI (med ium scale integration) stuff that. once upon a time, also existed on the final produ ct s. The major co ntribut ion of t he development of AS IC's has to do wit h economy, not electronics. The same so rt of argument applies to co mpo nent density. Not every product made to wo rk with a co mpute r has to be c o m p l ex . A s a m att er of f act , Gros sblatt's Fourteenth Law- Keep it S im ple-t el ls yo u t ha t t hings

sho uld be on ly as com plica ted as they have to be to get the job done. Not only that. but the more tim e yo u s pe nd do ing elec t ronics , t he more yo u'll appreciate the advantages you get w hen you keep things as simp le as pos sib le. If t he word "simple" both ers yo u, thin k of it as being "elegant " instead . The circui try for t he- co nt ro ller we're building doesn't have to be any more co mplex than is required by the job it's designed to do . We're build ing a te lepho ne di al er and, alt ho ug h there are cert ainly an infinit e number of th ings we can have it do, all we' re looking for in the beginning is the ability to ge ne rate DTMF t on es-an d we 've already talked about all the silicon needed to do that. The DTMF ge ne rator we 're de signing is basically a two- chip circ uit since most of the work is done by the 5088 that ge nerates the to nes . Al though tone-generator chips are a far cry from an ASIC , it would take an impressive amount of silicon to replace them.

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FIG. 1-THIS CIRCUIT COMBINES the latch layout we already developed with the 5088. With a bit of simple software, it will generate DTMF tones under keyboard or program control.

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We've already laid out most of the circuit we need to implement our design , and all we have left to do (from th e point of view of hardware) is to put it all together. The circuit show n in Fig. 1 combi nes the latch layout we already deve loped wi t h the 50 88 and, w hen we add a bit of si mple softwa re, w ill generate DTMF ton es under keyboard or prog ram co nt rol. The first four data lines from the parallel port are used to talk to the 5088 through the latc h. Even though t he latch co ntrol of the 373 is brought out to the co nnecto r going to the para llel port, we can igno re it fo r a wh ile by t yin g the en ab le line to grou nd. You can do thi s wit h a ju mper o n the breadboard o r, if yo u want, seven of the pins on th e parallel-port co nnector can be tied to grou nd . There we re o rigina lly eigh t gro und pins but remember t hat we modified o ne of them (I suggested pin 25) so t hat it would carry five vo lts and make it easier to power the circui t we're bu ilding. The o nly thing new in the sche mati c is the co lorbu rst crysta l added across pins 6 and 7 of the 5088 . That is the o nly co mpo nent we have to add to the circuit to make it wo rk. The ju mper show n hanging off pin 3 allows you to tie the pin either high or low. M akin g it high w ill enable the chip to generate DTMF, and making it low w ill cause th e IC to generate the highand low-gro up tones sepa rate ly. The se lectio n of high o r low grou p is made

wi th t he jumper at pin 4 . If you tie pin 4 low, the chip w ill ge nerate the Iowgroup tones, and tying it high wi ll ge nerate t he hig h-gro up t o nes. If you make pin 3 high by connecting it to + V. the chip ge nerates DTMF regardless of t he co nnec tion made at pin 4 . Alth o ugh the circu it show n in Fig. 1 still has to have thin gs added to it if yo u want to do practical thin gs with it (co nnect it to the phone line, cont rol a telephone , etc .i, that doe sn 't mean it has no use at all. Sin ce it's generating real DTMF, the output of the 50 88 can be connected to any circuit that gets driven or co ntro lled by DTMF ton es . W e 'll talk abo ut addi t io nal hardware later on but , for the moment , it's tim e to turn to the software part of the design. Since this is the most basic hardware design we 'll have for the circu it
TABLE. I
5088
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LJTMF GENER.A~~ INPUTS AND our,purs

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(other refinements wi ll come later) , it stands to reason that the softwa re is go ing to be simple as well ...at least at this stage of the game . All we're interested in at the moment is writing a few lines of code to tell us w hether the hardware is wo rking or not. Since I want to keep th ings as broad based as possible, I'll w rite the softwa re in Basic. A lthough you 're free to drive the latch with any fou r of the many out going lines on the addresses that make up the parallel port, we can be nice and logi cal SI nd use the data port. If the port yo u're working w it h is LPT1, t he data port is at 3BCh or 956 decimal. Things aren't as clear w ith the ot he r parallel ports , (LPT2, LPT3 , etc .), since th e ad dresse s are n't fixed. LPT2, for examp le, can have its base address at 3 78 h, 2 78h, o r elsew here. A s I talk about softwa re, I'll be referring to LPT1 . If you're using a different port, you 'll have to subs titute the proper addres ses yourself. The hardware is set to pay atte ntio n to only the lower four bits of the data po rt and, as you can see from Table 1, the bit co mbination se nt to the port w ill d et ermi ne w hich o ne of t he DTMF tones we generate. The actual code we need to exercise th e hard ware is s imple st uff since it's nothin g more than a single OUT instru cti on . A ll we want to do is se nd the data show n in Table 1 on the (Continued on page 90)

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NEXT MONTH IN 1W~

Exciting Features, Projects, Reports, & Columns
BUILD A BINARY CLOCK
A great conversation piece for your home or office

rc SPOTLIGHT
continued from page 66 Chips of a feather... ...come in sets together. Thanks to LSI Logic, you can now build an enti re core of a workstation which is binary compatible with the SPARCstation-1 , a reduced instruction-set computer CRISO-based workstation made by Sun M icrosystems , fro m a single 7chip set. A ll that's needed to complete the system are peripherals and their controllers , boot PROM 's, and the main and cache memories. Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the 7-chip sys tem . The chip set includes an integer processor, a floating-point proce ssor, memory-manageme nt, direct memoDMA), standard I/O and ry access C bus co ntro llers , and cac he con trol lers and tags . At the heart of the system are two processors , the L64811 and L64815 . The L64811 RISC -based integer unit C IU) has 136 genera l-purpose registers organ ized into eig htregister w indows . It has a four-stage pipe line, and can execute most commands in a single cycl e, thus giving it 18-29 M IPS of performance. It also has two coprocessor interfaces, one for a user-definable coprocessor, and the other for the L64814 FPU. The L64 814 performs double-prec ision operat ions at speeds of up to 6 mega FLOPS at 40 M Hz. The FPU 's cont roller section synchronizes the FPU with the IU and provides add it iona l floati ng-poi nt hardware sup port . The L64815 is a cache memoryma nagement controller that implements the SPA RC Reference memory man ag em en t uni t's C M M U 's) virt ual address translat ion mec hanism as specified by Sun and AT&T. Using a 64 -entry translation lookaside buffer CTLB) , this MM U imple mentation wi ll be used in all fut ure Sun workstations, and w ill support the next release of SunOS and U NIX System V, Release 4. The L6481 5 also provides cac he taggi ng, w ith the tag memory integrated into the IC . There are 2048 usable tags, giving the des igner great fle xib ility in de signing the memory subsystem. It can be made up of 32 -, 64 -, 128-, or 256-kilobytes of combined da ta and instruction cac he me mory. w it h line sizes of either 32, 64 or 128 bytes .

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The memory manager connects to the memory through a hig h-speed "M bus ," wh ich passes data to and from memory at a blazing 320-megabytes per second at 40 MHz . Peripheral controllers connect to both each other, as we ll as to the pro cessors and memory through the S un-developed " S bus ," which pushes data through at 1OO-megabytes per second at 25 M Hz. The L64852 Mbus-to-Sbus contro ller is used to contro l the two buses . That IC has five primary functions: 1. to act as an Mbu s arbiter, 2. to act as an Sbus contro ller, 3. it is an Mbus and an Sbus master/slave contro ller and data buffer, 4 . it provides Mbu s-to-Sbus protocol con version, and 5. it is used for I/O memory management. The set is rounded off by a mainmemory contro ller, the L64850 , a Standard I/O controller, the L64851 and a DMA controller, the L64853, which connects to a smal l-computer systems interface (SCSI) and localarea network (LAN) control ler. Two versions of the sys tem are the SparKIT-25 and the SparKIT-40, whi ch provide 18 and 29 M IPS of performance, respectively. Both chip sets are used in LS I Logic 's proprietary 0 .7-micron HC M O S process. The SparKIT-25 is $1,327.00 per kit, in 1000-unit quant ities .

Memory in a flash
As new type s of mic roprocessors hit the sce ne, so to o mu st new types of microcomputer mem o ry to support them . On e s uc h new typ e of memory is the flash memory from Intel. Touted as non -vo latil e RAM , the se devices are more similar to a higher-speed , lower-co st EEPROM's. The chips are non-vol atile in nature

and data can be read randomly, but that's where the RAM similarity ends . Writing and erasing has to be done to the whole chip at once . Erasing an ent ire 1-megabit chip takes one second, whi le wr iting data to that who le chip takes four second s. A poss ible app lication of fla sh memory is shown in Fig . 2 . Flash memory can be used to sto re entire programs from disk , which the CPU runs as if it were from RAM . RAM is sti ll needed to store program heaps , stacks and variables and other data that must change randoml y wh ile the program is running . Since they can't be written to random ly, flash memories w ill not likely rep lace all of the RAM in any sys tem s. They can be of great use , however, in redu cing PC-board real estate in w o rkstat io ns that need a lot of memory to store running app lica tion s. Such app li cati on s wi ll , of co urse, have to be rewritten to map temporary m emory co nt e nt s into RAM and keep executab le and overlay files in flash. Of course , their first app lication w ill likely be as nonvo latile backup memory that w ill come into play in the event of a power failure or as sto rage in laptop computer system s. The typic al cost of Int e l's flash me mory chips varies acco rding to the memory density. The price for a 1megab it 28F010 is $18 .70 , and is so ld in a DIP package. A 2-megabit 28 F020 costs $34 .80 in a DIP package, and $ 45 .20 in a thin smail-outline pack age (TSO P) used in surfac emount technology (SMT) design s. A ll prices are for 10,000 unit quantities. W e' ll see yo u next month for a look at the all but forgotten wo rld of analog multip lier lC's and the role they play in R-E phase-loc ked loops.

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85

COMPUTER CONNECTIONS
Electronics Workbench, an electronic's lab simulation program
JEFF HOLTZMAN

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can throwaway yo ur so lderless breadboard and spare parts jun k box. Elect ro nics Wo rkbenc h (EW B) provides a full graphica l simulation of an electro nics lab, co mple te wi t h breadboa rd, parts bin, and test instrum ent s. The program allows you to build a sc hematic diagram of a circ uit, simulate its operation , and display its out put on a variety of test instrument s, including a dig ita l-vo lt m et er (DVM) , sco pe , eig ht -c ha nnel lo gic ana lyze r, Bo de plotter, and so on . Building a circui t is simple and intuitive. D ocum enting your result s is simple as well bec ause the progra m provides nicely fo rmatted printouts of everything, including the sc hematic, instrument readings , and part s list. EWB co mes on four flop py disks and requ ires about 1 megabyte of disk space, but it can run on a dualfloppy machin e. You need at least 512K of RAM, a graphi cs monitor (Herc ules , CGA, EGA, MCGA, or VGA), and a mou se. No extra memory or math co processor is required or used . Unfortunately, the current versio n of EWB cos ts $650 , but the compa ny, Int e r ac t ive Imag e Technol ogies of O ntario , Canada, is working on a new " personal" vers ion that sho uld be priced for st udent and hob byist use. EWB actua lly co nsists of separate analog and digita l modules; yo u cannot build " mixed " circuits . The digital scree n is show n in Fig. 1. Wh en yo u first start the program, the central area is blank; the figure shows a simple divide-by-two circuit. The screen is d iv ide d into three major areas . Across the to p is a row of test instru ments on the lef t , and program-control me nus and icons on the right. Down th e righ t side is the parts bin. To add a part to a circuit, yo u move it from the parts bin, place it whe re you want it, and co nnect it to othe r components . Unli ke a real parts bin, there is an unlimited number of eac h co mpon ent. The de fault parts bin includes

OU

FIG. 1-THE ELECTRONICS WORKBENCH GRAPHICALLY simulates an electronics lab. In the digital module, you choose the components from a parts bin, build a schematic diagram on a breadboard, simulate its operation and display the output on a variety of test instruments.

ite ms such as AN D , NAN D , OR, NO R, XOR, and NOT gates, as we ll as D , RS , and JK flip-fl o ps. In addit ion, there is a half-adder, seven -segme nt LED display, discrete LED 's, a ground, and + 5-vo lt so urces . You ca n even crea te yo ur ow n part s using EWB 's macro feature. For example , you might combine six hexinverters and call the result a 7404 . You can load and save part s bins independ ently of yo ur circuits . You can
ITEMS DISCUSSED Electronics Workbench ($650), Interactive Image Technologies, Ltd., 49 Bathu rst Street, Suite 401, Toronto, On ta rio , Cana da M5V 2 P2 . (416) 361-0333.
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give eac h part a label, and in the analog module , a value. Disp lay of labels and values is normally disabled , but you can turn either or both on. The des ignatio ns, however, oft en obscure the part s. In Fig. 1, note that the K input is co nnected to + 5 vo lts , the Q outp ut is connected to the J input , and the Cl R and PR inputs are grounded. D riving the ITK input is a pulse generator, with a zoom ed-out view appearing in the lower left corner of the sc reen. The ClK outp ut of the pulse genera to r drives the test circuit. Note, however, that th e gene rator actually has eight outpu ts, and yo u can define 16-bit patterns to drive those outpu ts . Defining t he bit pattern s is somewhat awkward bec ause you have to type in s : it wo uld be easier and 1's and O' more logical sim ply to toggle a bit each time yo u clicked on it with the mouse. However, you can load and save bit patt erns to dis k files . The pulse gene rator has th ree differe nt

86

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BP135-A beginners guide to the Commodo re 64 presents masses of useful data , and programming tips, as well as describing how to get t he best f rom t he -' powerfu l sound andgraph- 1-ics facilities. We look at how the memory is organized , random numbers and ways of generating them, graphics-color-and simple anima tion, and even a chapter on ma chine code. Get your copy today. Send $5.00 plus $1.25 lor shipping in the U.S. to Electronic Techology Today Inc., P.O. Box 240 , Massapequa Park , NY 11762-0240.

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mo de s : 1) s ing le step, in w hich o ne bit is d elivered eac h tim e you c lic k o n th e st ep button ; 2) burst, in w hich all 16 bit s are del ivered seq ue ntially; and 3) cy cl e , in which all the bits are outp ut repetitively. Th e ou tp ut of th e f lip-fl op is co nne cted t o a lo gi c analyzer, a zo o medo ut view appears be hind and t he pu lse generator. The p ulse generator drive s c hannel one (shown in the upper trace) of t he lo gi c analyzer, t he o ut put of th e flip-fl op dri ves cha nne l two (lowe r t rac e), Lo g ic -analyz er op tio ns include positive , negative , and external triggering , and a display of the waveform , either as rec eived or after receiving a pattern .

he lp te xts . M ovin g from right to left , the ico ns in t he upper right corner of th e scree n allow you to sc ro ll t hro ugh the parts bin, scro ll the screen , start s imulation, a nd drop down a command men u . The com mand me n u allows yo u to ge t hel p ; cut, copy, move , and rotate componen ts ; set preferences ; and lo ad , save , and prin t files . A ll

common laser and dot-ma trix pri nters are suppo rted . M ovin g from left to righ t , th e ico ns in the upper left corner represent test instruments. First is a DVM , then the pulse generator, t hen the log ic analyzer, t hen t he "truth t able ." The lat t er co nverts di gital c irc uits a mo ng th ree di ffere nt representa t ions ; a circuit d iag ram , a truth t abl e , and a

On-line help
EWB incl ud e s a top -notch o n-line hy pe rt ext-base d help system . Note t ha t th e t ext box of Fig. 1 describe s t he " JK Flip-flop " . To get t ha t ty pe of desc ri pti o n, yo u s imp ly highli ght a com po ne nt and press Fl . In t hat te xt box, the word theory is high lighted, You can click on it to receive a moredetail ed description . It 's hard to see in t he fi gure, but " RS fli p-flo p " is highlighted as w ell. Yo u ca n also c lick o n it fo r com parative informat ion . The help te xts are brief s umma ries , so t hey are not really s ubstitutes fo r f ull te xtbook e x plana t io ns . H owever, t he ma nua l inc lu des co m p le te instru cti on s for m o difying and adding t o t he built-i n

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FIG. 2-EWB's ANALOG MODULE IS SIMILAR to the digital module except there are more components and different test instruments. Meter characteristics are ideal , but you can change their impedances to simulate real-world operation.

87

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ING DIGITAL AUDIO ... t is in59.95 Shows wha volved in thedigital part of audio signals. particularly inthe newest devicessuch A T and sampling. asCD . O Bridges the gap of understandingfor thetechnician and enthusiast. D PCP103--PRACTICAL MIDI HANDBOOK . . . 59.95. Covers all MIDI based equipment you can use-ke yboards, drum . machines, sequencers, eff ects unit s, mixers, drum pads and guitars. Also a sectiononcomputer music that covers software and more. D PCP10 4-ELECTRONICS BUILD & LEARN , Second Edition ... 59.95. You start by assembling a circuit demonstrator thatis then used to build and investigate a variety of usefu l circuits including oscillators, multivibrators, bistables and logic circuits. D PCP105-MAKE MONEY FROM HOME RECORDING ... 510.00. Now t that you've spent all tha mone y on all that recording gear, wouldn't it be nice to get some of it back? Well here'sthebook thatcan show you how . D PCP106-SYNTHESIZERS FOR MUSICIANS .. . 510 .00. All current popular forms' of syn, adthesis explained; LA ditive, phase distortion, FM andsampling. G et the sounds you want from your synth. Written espe ciallyfor musicians.

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Boolean express ion. You can create . a circu it by filling in a truth tab le. On the othe r hand, yo u could attach it to a working circuit , get a truth tabl e, and ver ify your design . EWB uses t he Q uin e-M c C lu s key synt he si s a lgorit hm w hen going from a tr uth table to a Boolean express ion. You can place only one copy of each test instrument into a circuit, but aft er running a simul ation , you can meas ure signals at various points as long as you don 't change the circuit itself.

and they are wo rking on a lower-cost vers ion . I'd st rongly urge you to write to the com pany as we ll. If the co mpany sees a great deal of inte rest in the prod uct, t hey wou ld be more inclined to be lieve th at th ey can make up through vo lume w hat they lose in the per-piece price.

Analog mod ule The analog module wo rks similarly, but there are more co mponents and diffe ren t tes t instrum ent s. C o mpo nents inclu de res istor, capac itor, inductor, t ransformer, N PN -and PNP transisto rs (but no FET's or MOS devices), diode , Zener diode, op-arnp , battery, AC and DC sources . Test instruments include a functio n generato r, DVM , dual-channel scope , and Bod e plott er. The re are volt met er s and ammeters in the part s bin; multipl e co pies of each may be inserted into a circuit. The function ge nerator provides sine , sq uare, and triangu lar waves; the frequency can range from 1 Hz to 999 M Hz; you can also adjust the duty cycle , symmetry, amp litude , and DC offs et. The DVM measures current, vo ltage, resist ance , and dB. By default, meter characteristics are ideal (infinite impedance for voltage measurem ent , zero for current), but yo u can vary characterist ics to simulate real-wo rld co nditio ns, and that's a nice touch . Simil arly, yo u can alte r the operati ng paramete rs of the active components, and load and save differe nt models of the same component. Conclusion EWB is a wo nderful prog ram. It is limited in th at yo u can' t model very large circuits, nor Cin the digital mod ule) can yo u account for propagation delays, so yo u wo uld never be able to mode l a high-speed 32 -bit wide 486 bus . But t hat's not wh at EW B is intended for. It's really intended for first -year co llege or university students coming to grips w ith the fundamentals, and in t hat sense , works ad mi rab ly. At $650, EWB is much too expens ive fo r indi vidu al purc hase . I have di scussed that w ith Interactive Images,

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Books from Abacus Press I have just had the pleasure of perusing a couple of thick , dens e books written by Michael Tischer and pub lished by A bacus press : PC System Programming and Turbo Pascal Internals. Tischer 's stated goal in PC System Programming is to provide a complete system overv iew, including deta iled inform ation on hardware, BIOS;-and DO S~ Alth ough that is an ambitiou s goal, Tischer for the most part manages to achieve it. The book cons ists of more than 900 page s of lucidly presented information with lots of example programs in asse mbler, C , Basic, and Pascal. All programs list ed in th e boo k (abo ut 1 MB tot al) are included on a pair of flop py disks, which eliminates ted ious and error-pro ne typin g. For examp le, the book contai ns an exce llent disc uss ion of device drivers . (with examples) , a set of routines for determining video-card type , using extended and expanded memory, determining CPU type . hard-disk part itio ning, and a whole lot more. All in all, these books put to shame ce rtain we ll-know n vo lumes by certa in we llknow n indu st ry perso nalit ies . The Pascal book provides equal meat. For e xamp le , T ischer shows dis assemb led vers ions of stand ard Turbo funct ions and pr ocedure s, illustrating w hy DEC and INC are more efficient than PRED and SUCC , as well as X : = X + 1. M ajor to pics include a complete wi ndow manager, a swap unit t hat allows yo ur Turbo prog ram to shell to DOS w it h a maximum amo unt of memory by leavi ng only a 1K st ub behind, and another unit that allows you to build a multi-tasking system under Turbo . Turbo Pascal Internals has a bo ut 750 pages , and also comes w ith about 1 MB of source code . Neither book is for the beginner. However, if yo u've already mastered t he basics of PC hardware and sof tware , these books can provide a o ne-sto p so urce fo r movin g up to R-E Gu ru stat us .

MEMORY QUIZ
Find out how much you know about random access memory.
ALVIN G. SYDNOR
1-Most popular RAM devices are ava ilable in tw o typ es , w hic h are : (a) m etal -o xid e s e m ico nd uc to r CMOS ) Cb) 64K bytes C c) bipolar C d) high-pow e r 2 - ln dyn ami c memories , each sto rage ce ll is composed of : (a ) PNP lC's C b) a s ing le MOS Cc) a MOS -processed cap acitor (d) silico n c hips 3 - Th e te rm "performa nce " relates to how fas t th e RAM ca n o pe rate in a given e nv iro nme nt. Th at paramete r is usually rate d in terms of: (a) bits pe r se co nd (b) tran sfer tim e (c) t im e-t em perat ure (d ) access ti me 4 -Bipo lar memories offer ve ry high pe rforma nce but have the dis advantage of : Ca) bein g very bu lky Cb) o peratin g at high vo lta ge levels Cc) high power dissi pat ion (d ) limited storage 5 - Th e great adva ntage of dyn amic RAM 's CORA M ) lies in : (a) lon g-t erm mem o ry sto rage capa bilit ies C b) t he sma ll size of their storage cell s (c) low- voltage operat io n Cd) a long " refres h" time 6-The term "RAM orga nizat io n" refe rs to the: (a) physica l size of th e c hip C b) m et hod of manufac t uring (c) groupi ng of t he ce lls (d) wid t h of th e mem o ry wo rd 3-1:1 "Sl !q L x >iu ss

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co ntin uedfrom page 47 the m icrophon e ca uses a voltage to appear. Do not increase the setting unt il R17 through R20 a re adj usted so as to give a com pl e te range throu gh each bargraph. The b es t bet for making t hese adjustments is to playa stereo au d io sou rce (actually, a ny so urce will do ) at a n or mal lis tening level. Sim ply adjus t the pote ntio mete rs for what yo u co n s ide r to be a pl ea sing or most Christmas-like interp reta ti on of the so u n d. If you h ave a ny p robl ems with the device, the first thing to do is d ec r ea s e t he sett ing (co u nter - _ - clockwtselof all the po tentiometers . A filter that still oscillates after decreas ing the pot entiomete rs mos t likely h as an incor rect com po nent or one that does not meet its to lerance. For hi gh-Q vers ion s of the circu it, someti mes the com ponent tolerance is such that the filter will begin to oscillate when presented wit h a la rge in put. If that's the case , all you must do is interchange the two filter ca pacitors; th is old tec hnicia n's tr ick u sually wo rks , ass u m i ng t hat t he re a re n 't a ny problems wit h t he other com ponents. If yo u st ill h a ve p ro bl em s , check that the a nalog ground is stable. A va r iation on that line will ca use s erious problems wit h the ope ration of the uni t. If you can not fin d the prob lem , the b es t th ing to do is to s hut off the d isplay by lifting one lead of both Rl and D5. With the load of the d isplay removed, it's easier to locate p ro blems . The fin ished , working b oa rd ca n b e ins talled in any ki n d of housing you like, a lthough the custom bl ack metal frame adds a ni ce touch , as does the mat that keeps t he circu itry fro m view. After ins talling the un it in the frame you m ay wa n t to readjust the p o ten ti ometers , s ince the frame a n d fro nt glass see m to cou p le t he m icrophone to t he s ur ro u n d i ng a i r. Vi bra t ions p icked up by the device will also prod u ce a di s play; a fan operating n earby is al most .always displ a yed . Ha ve fun , a nd d on 't forget to h ave a mer ry Ch r istmas, as we ll! R-E

DRAWINC BOARD
continued from page 79 lower four bits of the data port assoc iated w ith the paralle l port you 're using (LPT1 in this example). Since the fou r most significant bits at the data port aren't being used (at the mom ent) , it does n't matter what value we give them. I'm mentioning thi s only because the OUT instruction w ill send a full byt e out to the po rt. An instru ct ion suc h as OUT 956 ,1 will se nd the same four leastsignificant bit s to the port as an OUT 956 ,177. Thos e two num bers may look very different but the similarity between the two shows up w hen yo u think of the numbers in hex instead of -aecimal. Since yo u want the lower half of the byt e to be a 1h, any number can be st uffed in the upper half of the byte. A 177 decimal is B1 h, so it wil l be t he same (as far as our circuit is co ncerned) as a 01h, 21h, 31h, and so o n. The output of the 508 8 can be fed into the line input of a standard amplifie r or, if you 're a DTMF freak, yo u can probably co nnect it to a set of highimpedance headphones. There's no guarant ee of the initial state of t he lower four bits so there 's no telling wha t tone yo u're going to hear when you first con nect the circuit to the port . If you 've w ired up everything properly, you 'll hear the tones change as you send different data out the port but, as yo u may have noticed, all the possible values yo u can put on th e lower fou r bits are legal input codes fo r the 50 88 . Tha t mea ns th e re 's nothing you can send to the port to shut the circ uit off. Whil e that wo n't cause any electronic problems , it can st ill cause a bit of brai n damage . There's an easy way around that however, since the TONE ENABLE input (pin 2) is spec ifica lly desi gned t o take care of the problem . You can tie that pin to one of th e oth er data lin es-bi t 7 is a good choice-and use that data line to turn the chip on and off. A high on the data line wi ll enab le tone ge nerat ion and a low will disable it, no matter what data is being se nt on the lower four bits . W hen we get together next time we 'll finish this th ing off by adding so me circuitry to co nt rol the pho ne line, a telephone, and a few other R-E th ings. See you then.

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INVENTORS! Can you patent and profit from your idea? Call AMERICAN INVENTORS CORPORATION for free informat ion. Over a decade of service 1 (800) 338-5656 . In Massachusetts or Canada call (413) 568-3753.

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EASY work! Excellent pay! Assemble products at home. Ca ll for information . (504) 641-8003 Ext. 5192. MAKE $50/hr working evenings or weekends in your own electronics business . Send for free facts. INDUSTRY, Box 531, Bronx, NY 10461-0208. YOUR own radio station! AM, FM, TV, cable. licensed/unlice nsed . BROADCASTING, Box 130F12, Paradise, CA 95967 . INVENTORS : We submit ideas to industry. Find out what we can do for you. 1 (800) 288-IDEA.

MODEL TA-28MK2 TA-50AlB TA-50C TA-120MK2 TA-300 TA-302 TA-323A TA-377A TA-400 TA-477 TA-800 TA-802 TA-820A TA-1000A TA-1500 TA-2200 TA-2400A TA-2500 TA2800 TA-3000 TA-3600 TR-l 00A TR-355A TR-355B TR-503

DESCRIPTION

F re e g ift f o r a ny purchase during Ch ri stma s Sea son .

$ 172 0
18.7' 39.80 29.00 70.00 38.35 75.00 34.93 85.00 79.20 59.72 49.37 80.58 95.81 58.24 96.00 68.80 63.57 38.50 103.00

30W Multi-Purpose Single Channel Amp . 60W Ste reo Power Booster (w/case) . 30Wx2 Stereo Pre-main Amp Hi-Ouality FET Stereo Pre-Amp 40W Solid State Mono Amp .... 120W Moslet Power Mono Amp ...... . 80W+80W DC Pre-Main & Power Amp 80W+80W DC Stereo Main Power Amp 60W+60W OCL DC Pre-Main Stereo Amp
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MISCELLANEOUS
MODEL TY23B TY25 TY-35 TY-36 TY-38 TY-41MKV TY-42 TY-43 TY-45 TY-47 SM-222 SM-328 SM-333 SM-666 MODEL LG-1273 LG-1684 LG-1924 LG-1925 LG-1983 MODEL #001 #002 #003 #004 #005 #006 #007 DESCRIPTION
3 Channel Co lor Light Controller Stereo Loudspeaker Protector FM Wireless Microph one

KIT

ASSMR.
$ 65.00
19.85 26.20 35.00 38.00 46.14 27.24 38.80 139.00 70.00 34.00

*
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.

20.00 29.50 59.95 28.00 68.00 60.92 45.94 40.39

59 .69

AC/DC Quartz Digital Clock

nnn n

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100W Dynamic Class -A-Main Power Mono Amp

A.... .

100Wx2 Class "A" DC Stereo Pre-Main Amp ......... FET Super class "A- DC Pre-Amp Electronic Echo & Reverberation Amp *.
HQ Pre-Amp . w/10 band graphi c equalizer

73.70 47.70

SoundfT ouch Con trol Switch . Infared Remote Control Unit w/case AAA . . Bar/Dot Level Meter AA .. 31h Digital Panel Meter A .. 20 Steps Bar/Dot Audio Level Display . .. Superior Electronic Roulette A 7 Band HIFI Graphic Equalizer . 4 Channel Professional Color Light Controller e . Aud ioNideo Surround Sound Processor Dynamic Noise Reduction

... $ 51.20 13.85 10.22 19.00 12.00 20.00 24.15 29.00 38.45 19.46 26.80
62.00 26.00

*.

HI-FET IC Pre-Amp. wl3 way tone control 300W HQ Hi-Fi Power Mono Amp ...... ....

.
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48.90
27.00

Stereo Simula tor (mono TV I any mono source )

79.00

POWER SUPPLIES
0- 15V 2A Regulated DC Power Supply (w/case) 0 -15V 5A Regulated DC Power Supply a . 0 -30V 3A RegUlated DC Power Supply a . 0-50V 3A Regulated DC Power Supply .......

KIT
$
14.55 14.55 15.75

ASSMB.
$ 69.50 20.76 20.76 22.65

H" x w- x D" 312'r: 4" 16" 811'''' 4" 19" 11",," 519" 2'1' . 19" 8"

METAL CABINETS WITH ALUMINllM PANEL

MATCHING PRICE $ 22.16 TA-2800.TA-377A. TA-2200 . TA-323A. TA-377A. TA-2200 26.64 TA-802. TA-820A, TA1500. TA'20MK 2. TA800. TA-'OOOA 32.00 TA-477. TA-800. TA1500. TA-l000A. TA-3600 . 35.00 TA-377A. TA-2800. TA-2200. TA-120MK 2 . . 28.50

PO WER TR ANSFORMERS
MATCHING DESCRIPTION 28V x 2 6A to 30V x 2 6A TA-800. TA802, TA-820A. TA-l 000A. TA-1500 36V x 2 3A TR-503. TA-323A. TA-400. TA-300 . TA-477 40V x 2 6A TA-120MK 2 24V x 2 6A TR-355B ..... 26V, 2 3A TR-355A .. ' 8V x 2 5A TA-3600 53V x 2 8A PRICE $ 26.00 21.00 27.00 21.00 15.00 14.50 42.00

0 ..:5 oous P ease C. l 0....' 5.1 es Oeo,},:..,cnt'O' o-ce .s uver 2 1M O'10.e.gn o-oe-s All asseeoc'ec unIts nave a 30days wa rra nty Ovai lly or vorum e c.scount ava1lable upon reQuest Re s'de nlS o' CA c'c .rsv .lOO 5.', t.'<' t.l' 6;"5 A I -e-c-o-c-se .ue SuCj~ I IO Or,o' S,W;l Peco s are suC! e cl to c.hange WIthout Otlor ocnce W e are oor respon Sible lor typOg'at1,cal errors

W e .rcceor ..... d:O. C'l"<l ': C.1'O S I.l ol"(> y O<Oe'S C~ e<" anO C a

... ....
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INSTRUMENTS
3'''' Multi-Functional Led D.P.M. (w/ABS plastic case) 41 h Hi-Precision D.P .M....... .... 41'> Hi-Prescision D.P.M. (w/ABS plastic case) 31'> Multi-Functional LCD D.P.M. (w/hold lunction) 150 MC Digital Frequency Counter
1 GHz Fre uenc Counter

KIT
$ 34.50
38.00

AS8MB.
$ 43.00 48.00 52.00 44.50 90.00 179.00

*.

41.20 36.00 79.00

m o m
:D

0 a'Cle'S c a 0 lee '5 $5 00 M ,n,mum orele' IS $2000 We sh,p ey UPS g rouno ,"S>CIe US Im ,n S3 001 aeosh,p by US ma,1 Bu sin ess & Showroom hours : (Pac ific T im e )

Mon. thru Fri. 9:30 am to 5:00 pm Sat. 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

$; OJ

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COMPUTER KITS
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Quality comput er Syst ems Post Office Bo x 2676 Lake Ronkon koma , NY 11779

(516) 981 - 9473

Genera l Techni cs Com ut er Kits
includ e a complete lin e ofS088. 286,

PLANS AND KITS

MINIATURE FM transmitters! Tracking transmitters! Voice disg uisers! Bug detectors! Phone Devices! More! Available in kits or assembled ! Catalog $2.00: XANDI ELECTRONICS, Box 25647, Dept. 60 L, Tempe, AZ. 85285 -5647 . CATALOG: hobby/broadcasting/HAM /CB : Cable TV, transmitters , amplifiers, surveillance devices , comp uter s, more! PANAXIS, Box 130-F12, Paradise, CA 95967 .

who lesale pric es. All kits are pre-tested and Include a free step by step asse mbly manu al, software , o ne year warran ty and our 24 hour support/orde r phone line . Asse mbly is avaifable.

and 386 models. They are designed !~ " to offer the highest degre e of quality and reliability available tod ay. The y' re also fun easy to build educati onal-. fu lly I B~1 compatible , very po~'eiful. and at

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VOLUME 1- TEST EQUIPMENT

CONSUMER & INDUSTRI AL ELEC TRONICS 18 TH EDITION
55 00

CAR alarm schematic with instructions, easy constru ction and Installation. $6 .00: HUNTER , 1802 Cook , Duncan, OK 73536. DAZER II personal protection device! Plans $8 .00. Lasers! Transmitt ers! Detectors! More! Kits or assem bled! Catalog $2 .00. QUANTUM RESEARCH, 16645-113 Avenue , Edmonton, Alberta T5M 2X2.

"Volume I-Test Equipment"

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11 2 page s packed wit h specifications on the most popular test equipment like B&K, Beckm an, ARI, Simp son, Mer cer, Soar, Goldstar and VectorN iz. Choos e from hundreds of multimeters, oscilloscopes, frequency coun ters, function gene rators. power supplies & mor e. Send $5.00 check or money order, or call 1-800 -543-3568 today & use yo ur Mastercard or Visa. Con solid at ed Elect ronics, In corpo rated 705 W atervliet Av enu e., Day ton, Oh io 45420 2599

11111
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INVESTIGATORS, expe rime nters - Quality new plans. Micro and restricted devices . Free catalog . Self addressed stampe d envelope required KELLEY SECURITY INC., Suite 90, 253 1 Saw teile Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064 .

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EDUCATION & INSTRUCTION

MAGIC! Four illustrated iessons plus inside information shows you how. We provide almost 50 tricks including equipment for four professional effects. You get a binder to keep the materials in, and a oneyear membership in the International Performing Magicians with a plastic membership card that has your name gold-embossed. You get a one-year subscription to our quarterly newsletter "IT's MAGIC!" Order now! $29.95 for each course + $3.50 postage and handling. (New York residents add applicable state and local sales tax). THE MAGIC COURSE, 500- B BiC ounty Boul evard , Farmingd ale, NY 117 35. EC.C. Commercial General Radiotelephone license . Electronics home study. Fast, inexpensivel "Free" details. COMMAND , 0-176, Box 2824, San Francisco, CA 94126. LEARN IBM PC assembly language. 80 programs. Disk $5.00. Book $18.00. ZIPFAST, Box 12238, Lexington, KY 40581-2238 . CONSUMER advocate. Help sources, any problem. SASE for description. HELP, Box 132, Indian Rocks, FL 34635.

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MASTERCARD AND VISA are now accepted for payment of your advertising. Simply complete the form on the first page of the Market Center and we will bill.

15" SUBWOOFER

10" POLY WOOFER

Medium duty. 60W RMS, 80W max. 14 oz. magnet. Response: 25-2.5Kl lz. fs=28 Hz.

21/2" SANYO TWEETER

Paper cone with gold tone dust cap. 8 oz. magnet. 8 ohm. 1/2" ferro fluid voice coil. Power hand ling: 50W RMS, 70W max. Frequen cy response: 3K-20K Hz.

'II

#RP-290-096

$18 50 $1690
(1-3) (4-Up)

I
no-ss) (50-up)

TITANIUM COMPOSITE TWEETER

:(

#RP-271 -020

$1 95 $1 75 95c
(1-9)

SUPER HORN TWEETER

Original piezo tweeter made by Motorola. SPL=94 dB 2.83V/ l M. Response: 4KHz27K Hz. Handles approximately 50 watts.

Dual voice coil. 40 oz. magnet. 6 ohm Imp. IOO W RMS, 140W max. Response: 20-1.2KHz. Resonant frequency: 21Hz. SPL=93 dB lW/1M.

# R P-290-19 0 $5 30 $450 $ 3 9S
(1-9) (1Q79) (SO-up)

$5 4 50
(1-3)

$49 90
(4-Up)

The advantages of both hard and soft dome technologies. 8 ohm. Ferro fluid cooled voice coil. SPL=90 dB 1Wl l M SOWRMS, 70W max. 4" round. Polydax #DTW100T125.

12" woofer made in the USA by Eminence. Paper cone and dust cap with treated cloth surround. 80 oz. magnet. 2-1/2" vented voice coil. 8 ohm. 170W RMS, 235W max. 40-4.5KHz response.

#RP-290-147

$7290
(1-3)

$69 50
f4-up)

#RP-270-010

SUBWOOFER XOVER

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$27 50 $2490
(1-9)

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Textile dome midrange made by Philips. 8 ohm . SPL=90 dB 1Wl 1 M. 30W RMS, 40W max. Response: 550-5K Hz.

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Revised edition of David Weems' best selling book. Learn to build low cost speakers that rival the high priced models.

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SUPER Zen ith (Z-TAC) conver ters (flashing)... $169.00 . Zen ith " t urn -on" module ... $49.00. Tocom 5503(A) & 5504 converters.; $139.00. Tocom (add-on) descramblers... $79 .00. Tocom (5503-VIP & 5507) "turn-on" chips...$49.00. CINEPLEX VIDEO GROUP. 1 (800) 726-4627.

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PRICE

EPROMS
STOCK # 1702 2708 2716 2716-1 TMS2716 27C16 2732 2732A-2 2732A 2732A-4 TMS2532 TMS2532P 27C32 2764-20 2764 2764A-2O 2764A TMS2564 27C64 27128-20 27128 27128A 27C128 27256-20 27256 27C256 2751220 27512 27C512 27Cl024 68764 68766 PINS 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24
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DESCRIPT ION lU5 45n5 450n5 (25v) 350n5 (25v) 450n5 2048 r a 460n5 (25v-CMOS) 4096 x 8 450n$ (25v) 4096 x 8 2OOn.(2 1v) 4096 x 8 250n. (21v) 4096 x 8 450 s (21v) 4096 x 8 450n5 (25v )
4096 x 8 450ns (25v-One Time Programmable)

1-24 3.99 6.49 3.29 3.79 6.29

25-99 3.79 6.17 3.13 3.60 5.98 3.79 3.60 3.60 3.51 3.03 5.50
1.89

100+ 3.41 5.55 2.82 3.24 5.38 3.41 3.24 3.24 3.16 2.73 4.95 1.70 3.58 3.41 3.24 3.41 2.82 5.81
3.58

STOCK #

256 x4 1024 x B 2048x 8 2048 x 8 2048 x 8

SB1052

$39.99

3.99
3.79 3.79 3.69 3.19 5.79
1.99

LASER DIODE
(INFRA-RED)

GE=
LASER DIODE
(VISIBLE-RED)

Output: 10 mW (max.) Current: 90-150 mA Operatin g Volt age: 2.2-2.5V Wavelength: 820nm
PRICE

STOCK #

SB1053

$9.99

Output: 5 mW (max.) Current: 65-100 mA Operating Volt age: 1.75-2.2V Wavelengt h: 780nm
PRICE

STOCK #

LS022

$19.99

LASER DIODE
(VISIBLE-RED)

(j)

o a:
fU
W
...J

POWER SUPPLY

~=

Outpu t: 4 mW (max .) Current: 20 mA Operati ng Voltage: 2.2-3.0V Wavelength : 665nm

PRICE

STOCK #

24 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 32 24 24

4096x 8 450n5 (25v-CMOS) 8192 x 8 200n5 (21v ) 8192 x 8 250n5 (21v),.... 8192x 8 2OOn5 ( 12.5v ) 8192 x 8 250n5 (12.5v) 8192 x 8 250n. (25v) 8192 x 8 250n5 (21v-CMOS) 18,364 x 8 2OOn$ (21v) 16,384 x 8 250ns (21v} 16,384 x 8 250n5 (21v) 16,384 x 8 250n5(21v) 32,728 x 8 200n5 (12.5v ) 32,768 x 8 250n5 (12.5v) 32,768x 8 250ns (12.5v) 65,536 x 8 2000$ (12.5v) 65,536 x 8 250ns (12.5v) 65,536 x 8 250n5 (12.5v-CMOS) 131,072 x 8 200ns (12.5v-CMOS) 8192 x 8 450n5 8192 x 8 450n5

4.19 3.99
-:3.79

3.98 3.79
3.60

LS3200

$129.99

Input: 115/ 230v Size 7" L x 5'1." W x 2'h H Output: +5 volts @ 3.75 amps Output: +12 volts@ 1.5 amps Output: - 12 volts @ .4 amps
PRICE

<~/E L E(
V
, .

~ UNICORN

T RON I ( S

10010 Canog a Ave., Unit B-8 Chatsworth, CA 9131 1

6 o

: .

STOCK #

OUTSIDE CALI FORNIA: (800) 824-3432 (Orders Only) IN CALI FORNIA : (818) 341-8833 ORDER BY FAX: (818) 998-7975
Mi nimum Ord er $15.00

3.99 3.29 6.79 4.19 5.19 5.09 5.79 5.79 5.29 4.79 5.29 7.49 6.99 6.99 17.99 13.99 14.99

3.19 3.13 8.45 3.98 5.50 4.64 5.50 5.50 5.03 4.55 5.03 1.12 6.64 6.84 17.09 13.29 14.24

4.95 4.35 4.95 4.95 4.53 4.09

4.53
6.41 5.98 5.98 15.38 11.96 12.82

PS1003

$19.99
CIRCLE 195 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

-c
a:

96

QUALITY PARTS DISCOUNT PRICES FAST SHIPPING

. :.::.: :.: .:.:. : :.: :.: : .:1 .:: :. : . ::: : .:.: .: .: : . '.:. : :.: . . i::.:.:. i G .:..:. i-I ::. J .: : : .. : T ..: .:.: :.: A . :. i .:: : . ::: :.: : .i. :: .U : . :

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) igital clock and app liance inner rennoved from automatic ,IOOric coffee make rs due o design changes. O perates In 120 Vac and is capable .~. II turn ing on app liance s "'"'" Irawing up to 10 amps. ,. lecause of the app licatio n they Were de signed or they aut omatically turn off after two hours. l ome have surface blemi shes. 4.2" X 2.45" X 1 .1" deep . Bei ge or ivory w ith bro wn trim. CA TMMCT $6. 50 ea ch

j'
: .:. . A .:: : .:. : .e : . .: . N . . . :: . .:.: : : a :: .D :. . :: .. .: . .:.::

:.:.:..: : :.i : :tt:: : : : : :i t::ag:N,:gg.~fiHAQ ::::::: : : : ::MPioa.: : : : :r:: : : : :;,,:' : : : : ..

SohOll GBl 35-DH -210 80-10Y Powerful little ~ gearhead motor. 40 RPM @ 12 Vdc. 0.5 arro s (no load). 32 RPM wnh load. Operates at low er voltages w nh reduced spee d and torque . 6.3 pound inches torque. Stall: 27 pound inches. 3.1" long X 1.375" diamet er. Shaft : 0.187" dia X 0.75 " long . CATM MOTG -14 $ 11.50 each 10 for $ 100.00

150 microarro tull sca le. ~ 2.165" X 1.875" X Il~ ~

0.96" deep I Face is 1.965" X U ". ..' WMe background wnh ,: bl ack and red scale. Two types . One Is marked "Modulation" and has a 0 - 100 scale. The other has two sca les. "RF" and "SW R". Oth erwise met er are identical. "Modulation" meter RF/SWR meter CATM MET-21 $3.50 CATM MET-22 $3.50

~ ff

This whit e box w~h ~ a blu e button w ill driv e you craz y. <; ~ Bo x measur es 3 114" square X 2" high. When the button is pressed 4 LEOs light and a beeper puls es. Ev ery 15 sec ond s on e led goes out and the spee d of the beeping increases. At the end 01 60 seconds the unn gives off a long be ep followe d by a low squel ch, all LEOs shut off and the unit stops. Un~ require s a 9 vo tt transistor battery (not lncluded) to operate .

CAT ' TMR-l

$2.25 ea ch 10 lor $20.00

SPOT PUSHBUnON
Marquardt# 1843 RatG d 6 amp! @ 125125OVaC. Black plastic pushbutton. Switch body: .92" X .94" X .65". CAnPB18 $1.65ea. 10 1 0r$ 15.00 GCfThornsen# 35-420 S.P.5 .T. normally open momentary pushb.Jtt on switch. Red plastic
actuator 0.57" diamet er. Chrome

Two L.E.D.'s flash in unison when a 9 vott battery IS attached.

Thi s k it includ es a

'2Jc..~
,,;

PUSHBUnON SWITCH

p.c. board, all the parts

and instruct ions to make a simple flasher

AAA SIZE

bezel 0.68" diameter. Threaded bushing

mounts in .5a' diam eter hole. Rated 3 amp @ 25OVac. Solder loop terminals.

CA1# PB20 $1.00each

$1.50 each 1.2 volts 180 mAh CATlNCBAAA AA SIZE $2.00 each 1.25 volts 500 mAh CATlNCBAA AA SIZE $2.20 each WITH SOLDER TABS CATlNCB-SAA C SIZE $4.25 each 1.2 volts 1200 mAh CATlNCBC D SIZE $4.50 each 1.2 volts 1200 mAh CATl NCBD

clrcuit. A quick and easy project for anyone with basic soldering skills. CAn LEDKIT $1.75 per kn

LED HOLDER ~ Two pece holder. '. U CAli HLED 10 for 6St

/::::::: X I;NQ~ JQ$.f#:::::::::

9'C=3t
1" long ftashlube with 3 1/2" rod and b1 acl< leads. Ideal fO(electronic flash 0( strobe projects. CAn FLT3 2 to( 51.00 Learn about stepp ing nnotors while bu ilding th is

tiN sTR U M E N TE N ct6s(iR E S:

High qualrty molded ABS
instru ment enclos ures,

Q
color.

simple circuit,
Includes circun board, nno tor and all parts except 12 Vdc powe r supply. CAn SMKIT $ 18.00 each

Integrated PC board

\: :ELeCTROLu M INESCeNt\

: : : :' w.A w W iR A N $f98 M R $!::}::

ALL PLUG DIRECTLY INTO 120 VAC OUTLET 6 Vac 600rna. CAnACTX660 $3.50 8.3 Vdc@ 10 rna. CAn DCTX.a310 $1.50 12 Vdc@500 ma. CAn DCTX125 54.50

'"

standoffs and two sets of vertica l mountin g slots for front and rear sub pan els. All enclos ures are

: ::::::!]0~W&1~~W~l~~ ~~::::": :
Used for back ~ ghting control panels or as de corati ve or eme rgency prime i ghting sourc e. Thi n, tough and flexible, they operate on low current AC voltage. The preferred PQwer source is a miniature DC to AC inverter. Th ese have a bit of an odd shape.

6" wide X 6 1/4" deep. Choioo of three hts. Includes non-skid rubber feet and hardware. Available in be ige, ivory, black, and blue.
P&MII'IL CAn

(jJ ~

L....:::::::::I

====::::!.

2 t /." 2518 3"

CAn MB-A $7.50each 10 I", $65.00 CAnMB-B $7.75each 10 1 ", $67.50 CAn MB-C $8.00 each to ,'" $70.00
Plea se s eci

to heavy ooty F connectors.

InCkJd es 75 ohm terminator 0It:::= and F-61 spjcer on one end. New cables manufactured for IBM PC networ1<e. IBM PIN 1501908 COM/SCOPE.

The strip. are 2.15" wide X 5.88" long and

are 0.03 5" thick. The u minesce nt area is 5.3" long X 1.7Z' wide and has one corner

cut 011, leaving a useful area 01 fairly 900d

proportio ns. We are sel~ng the stripe and invert ere as a package. Inverter operates on 6 Vdc.G'ow strip, inverter and hook-up

diagram CAn GS-l500 $5.00 per set

CATlRGll-1 CATlRG-ll 2

100ft roll $15.00 200 ft. roIl$ 27.50

EXTRA INVERTERS
Input: 6 Vdc Output : 225 Vac CAT# INV-l 52.00 each

==-"'--:F ~ AX (818) 7812653

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Minimum Order $ 10.00' All Orders Can Be Charged To Visa, Mas tercard Or Disccvercard California, Add Sales Tax Shipping And Handling $3.50 For the 48 Continental United States - All Others Including Ala ska, Hawaii, P.R. And Canada Must Pay Full Shipping' Quan tities Limited No C.O.D . Prices Subject to chang e without notice.

o rn o
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JJ

rn

CD CD

MAIL ORDERS TO: ALL ELECTRONICS CORP P.O. BOX 567 VAN NUYS, CA 91408
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97

JAMECO
GoldStar 20MHz Oscilloscope

24 Hour Ord er Hotlin \'1\en\ su: (415) 592-8097 "tes\ Il'J\ea ~(\u\~\'1\e _n\ _ a?to\o\'l~ an Ja meco Universal rc Programmer
Memory Devices: EPROMS, EEPROMS and PROMS Logic Devices: PALs, GALs, RALs, EPLDs, EEPLDs and FPLDs

Features:

6" rectangular CRT display. internal gratitude & scale

Phase difference measuremen ts between two forms under two methods : x-y scope

and Dual Trace Two different scale probes : xl and xl 0 Bandwidth from DC to 20MHz Includes: Two 40MHz probes. two fuses. power cord. operation manual. schematics and block and wiring diagram High sensitivity: 1mv /div
Two-Year Warranty

Sta nd alone or comp ute r controlled mo de v ia RS 232C port T he J E580 uses th e JEDEC sta ndard for logic d ev ices . Acce pt s inp ut from v irtua lly all m ajor so ft war e pac kage s includi ng : PAL A SM , PL AN , C PUL, AB EL. and A MAZ E

----------

GS7020
Jameco Lo gic Pulser

$499.95
Jameco Log ic Probe

JE680 A.R.T. EPROM Programmer

.. . :-. r . : ;n 2g ~ ~3fIi'
$ 24 .95

UVP EPROM Eraser

f
Programs all current EPRO Ms in the 2716 to 2 7512 ra ng e pl u s the X2 8 64 EE P R O M RS2 32 po rt S o ft wa re in c lu d e d

Max Freq uency 80 MHz Minimum dete ctab le pul se: 10ns -120KU mput imped ance Ma x.

-lit

.....

$1799.95

I'
_J

Compatible with TTL. DTL. RTL. HTL. HNIL. Ma S and CMOS ICs. 1Mil Sync input impedance
"One shot" or continuo us 5Hz train

supply volla ge: ' 25V TTL thresh old: (Lo)-0.8V O .1V (HI) . 2.3v 0.2V CM OS threshold: (l.o) 30% VCC ' 10% (Hi) 70% VCC ' 10%

Erases all EPROM's Erases 1 chip in 15 minutes and 8 chips in 21 min UV intensity: 6800 UW/C M2

MS104

EPP

$199.95

DE4

$79.95

pulse Pulse repetition rate: O .5pps I 400pps. Pulse width output at 100ma load:

Metex Dig ital Multime ters

Gener al Specs :

Handheld. high
accuracy - AC'-OC voltage . AC10C current resistance. diode s. continuity. transistor hFE Manual ranging w i ove rload prote ction

Prototype Design Stations

t ous
Pulser mode output current: 10mA Square wave current output: 5mA Audible tone Size: 7.75"L x 1"W x .625"H.

LP540

$16 .95

M3650 & M4650 only:

Also meas ure frequ ency and capacita nce

PRO TO TYPI NG PR O D UC T S Jameco Solderless B r eadboa rds

M4650 only: . Data hold switc h - 4.5 dlgll

M3610 M3650 M4650

35 0'91 1Multn n eter

3 5 Digit Multimeterw Fre quency&

$59.95 $74.95 $99.95

Capacuance
4 5 Digit w Frequency. Capacitance

Features : Remov able sold erle ss b read board Vari ab le and fix ed DC power supply Multifre qu ency sig na l ge nerator Analog mu ltime te r 8 bicol or LE Ds (red & g reen) 8 log ic sw itc hes Log ic p robe Lig ht ed pow er switch Fuse ov er load prot ect ed Pulse Ge ner ator Bin ar y co de d dec im al (BC D) to 7segment de coderl driv er DB 25 co nnect o r Freq uency counter (1Hz to 1MHz) Sturdy rug gedized case

andDataHoldSW itch Handh eld Mult im ete r

\
J E21 J E23

WM2

$299.95

Soldering and Desoldering Stations

50 Watt An al og Disp lay Soldering St atio n Electro nic temperatu re cont rol from 200 ' to 87 8F , Ca rtr idg e heating ele me nt fo r a long er life of the so lde ring tip

Part

Dim. L " x W"

Contact
Point s

B in d ing N o. Post s Price

3.5 digit LCD w ith automatic polanty indica non AC DC voltage measurement up to 500 volts AC,DC curren t measurement up 10 200mA Hesistance measurement up to Con unurty checker with aud ible tone 20Mll
DIode and logiC test er Automanual range and All range dat a hold funct ions protection and fun ction morcauons

XY1683

$69.95

JE 21 J E23 JE 24 JE 25 JE 26 JE 27

325, 2.125 6.5,2 125 65,3 125 6.5,4.25 6875,5.75 7 25 , 7.5

400 83 0 1.360 1.660 2.390 3.220

54.95 56.95 512.95 517.95 522.95 532.95

3 0 Watt Electro nic T emp erature Con trol led Desold ering Station Electronic tem pera ture control from 2 12 to 842' F Self con ta ine d high rotary vacuu m pu mp

XY999

DM M90 5................. ....... ............$49.9 5

XY 999

$299 .95

CIRCLE 114 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

~A

QUa\\\~

~uc\S

------

ca\a\o9

JAMECO
Integrated Circuits
'art No . '4 l S00 '4l S02 '4 l S03 '4 l S04 '4l S05 '4lS06 '4lS07 '4lS08 '4lS10 '4 l S11 '4l S13 '4lS14 '4lS20 '4l S21 '4 l S27 '4lS30 '4l S32 '4lS38 '4lS42 '4lS47 '4 l S48 ' 4l S112 '4lS122 ' 4l S123 ' 4lS125 1-9 .25 .25 .25 .25 .28 .59 .59 .28 .25 .29 .35 .49 .28 .29 .35 .28 .28 .35 .49 .85 .85 .39 .55 .49 .49 10+ .15 .15 .15 .15 .18 .49 .49 .18 .15 .19 .25 .39 .18 .19 .25 .18 .18 .25 .39 .75 .75 .29 .45 .39 .39 Part No. 74lS154 74lS155 74lS156 7 4lS157 74lS158 74lS166 74lS169 74lS173 74lS175 74lS181 74lS189 74 l S190 74lS191 74lS193 74lS194 74lS221 74lS240 74lS241 74lS323 74lS541 74lS590 74lS670 74 l S688 81lS95 81lS97 19 1.29 .49 .49 .45 .39 .79 .99 .49 .39 1.39 3.95 .59 .59 .69 - .69 .69 .59 .59 2.49 1.09 5.95 .89 2.19 .99 .99

~J;~
andCOm~
10+ 1.19 .39 .39 .35 .29 .69 .89 .39 .29 1.29 3.85 .49 .49 .59 .59 .59 .49 .49 2.25 .99 5.75 .79 1.95 .89 .89 Transistors And Diodes

m~onen\S

24 Hour Order Hotline (415) 592-8097

Look to Jameco.....
Wide selection of integrated circuits and components Quality prototype and test equipment

Miscellaneous Components

Potentiometers Values available (insert ohms into space marked "XX"): 500n , 1K, 5K, 10K, 20K, 50K, l O O K, 1MEG 3/4 Watt ,15Turn............................................ .99 43PX X ' /2 Watt , 1 Turn........................... ...................89 63PXX PN2222 .......... .12 11N4735 ...........25 12N4401 ......... 15 PN2907 .......... .12 2N3904 ...........12 1N4148 ........ .07 1N4004 ........... 10 1N751 .............15 2N3055 ......... 69 2N2222A ........25 C106B1 ..........49 1N270 ...........25 Switches SPOT, On-On (Toggle) .............................. 1.25 JMT123 SPS T, 16-pin (DiP).................................... 1.09 2068 SPOT, On-Oft-On (Toggle).............................. 1.19 MPC121 SPST, Momentary (Push-Button)............. .......39 MS102 D-Sub Connectors and Hoods Hood ............ .39 DB25P Male, 25-p in ':': : 65 1 DB25H _ DB255 Female, 25.pm... .75 lEDs XC209R T1, (Red) ......... .14 1XC556R T1 3/4. (Red) ......12 XC556GT13/4, (Green) ... 16 XC556Y T13/4, (Yellow)...16 IC Sockets Wire Wrap (Gold) Level #2 Low Profile 8l P ............................ .11 8WW ............................. .49 14WW ........................... .65 14lP .......................... .12 16l P .......................... .13 16WW ............................ 69 24lP .......................... .19 24WW ......................... 1.05 28lP ...........................22 28WW ......................... 1.29 40lP .......................... .28 40WW ......................... 1.79 Soldertail Standard & Header Plug Sockets Also Available

Additional items that Jameco offers:

Hard Drives Motherboards Memory Modules: SIPPs SIMMs NEC V20 and NEC V30 Chips RAMs Math Coprocessors Computer Kits Integrated Circuits Components

Much, muc h more!

Assemble Your own Computer Kit!

Jameco 16MHz 80386SX Desktop Computer Kit
Conner (16-bit IDE)
Bu ilding your own com puter provides you with a better understanding of compone nts and their funct io ns In-depth assem bly instructions included Have your new computer assem bled and running in three hours, usi ng common too ls Software included Purchase com pute r kits co nfigure d by Jameco or design your own CP3044 40MB 35" Low Profile CP318 4 80MB35"HH CP3104 100 MB 35HH ADP20 HostAdapter $469.95 $699 .95 $799 .95 $29 .95

Let usshowyouwhat we have to offer; call or write forthe latest Jameco catalog '

24 Hour Order Hotline

(415) 592-8097
FAX's: (415) 592-2503 or (4 15) 595-2 664 Tele x 176043 1355 Shoreway Road Belmont, CA 94002
$50.00 Minimum Order Data Sheets - 50c each

Relisys 14" VGA Color Monitor

Jameco 16MHz 80386SX Desktop Computer Kit

Inc ludes: 80386SX Motherboard with 2MB RAM (expandable to 8MB) 10 1-key enhance d keyboard M ulti I/O Card To shiba 1.44MB , 3.5" DSHD flo ppy disk dr ive Baby sized desktop case 200 Watt power supply DR DOS (Version 5.0) by Digital Research and Diagsoft's QAPl us diagnostic software Max resolut ion: 720x 480 Bandwidth:30MHz TilVSwivel base

For a FREE gO-Page cat alog send $2.00 to co ver

first Class Postag e and Handling 1990 Jame co Electronics 12190

RE9513 $449.95 Jameco 16-bit VGA Card

CA Residents Add
6.25% .6.75% or 7.25%. Sales Tax

Shipping - Add 5% plus$1 .50 Insurance

(May va ry acco rornq to we ight a nd Shipping meth od)

Terms: Prices subject to change Without notice .

Items subject to availability andpnorsale.

Complete list of te rms.warranne s
IS

available upon request

IB M .s a registered tracem ao; of lnte rnat-onar BUSiness Mac bmes

$1199.95 J E381 6

monitor extra

15,.

,~
, ,

~l"

; . . '" . . . . ~

'

',

I
"

"--1 1'-N~ir\-m f t-I.d.. \ . t ~. ll II

Supports VGA, EGA. CGA , MDA and Hercules modes . Comes with 256KB video RAM upgradable to 512KB (eight 41464-80) Capable of 640 x 480 with 256colors, 800x 600with 16colors

Please
refer to

Mail Key 2
when ordering

VG2000
CIRCLE 114 ON FREE INFORMATION CARD

$149.95

ADVERTISING INDEX
RADIO-E LECTRONICS does not assume any resp on si bil ity for err ors that may appear in the index below. Free Information Numbe r
GRA1 w LC7 !i'i ~ RUB4~ E' B Tt5a:Ii; MCP1~:!: LLS1 (I) EH1 Z EML1 AN TI GRAVI TYGENERAmR 81000 40 WATT BURNING CU TT IN GLASE R $20 00 HI PO'NE RPULSED DRILLI NG LASER . .$2 0.00 1MILLlDN VOL TTESLACOIL. . . . . . . 820. 00 HIVELOCITY COIL GUN . 815.00 LASER LIGHT SHOW 3METHODS . . . $20.00 ELECTRONICHYPNOTISM TE CHNIOUES $800 LOWER POWERED COIL GUN LAUNCHE R $8 .00 JACO BLADDER 3 MOOELS . . 81 000 SE EINTHE D ARK . . ._ . . .810.00 LEVITATIONDEVI CE . . . . . . . .. . . 81 0. 00

Page
. . , , . t\'J

108
75

AMC Sa les Ace Produ cts . All Elect ronics Alpha Prod ucts .. , .. . Amaz ing Concepts.

78

Rad io Shack . .. ..

. 32
.72

. 62 . 97 . . 75 , . 100 . ... CV4 , 90 , , . ..

14

190,191 SCO Electron ics . . 194 Sencore . . Star Circuits. 192 TEC I .. . " .,

107
193

. . . . .. . .. . 27 .3 1 . 79
.. . 3

...J

c::r:: Jl3 -

a.. LEV1 -

SD5 -

3 MILE FM VOICETRANSMITTER . . . . . . . . .$345 0 S PFS1K - HAND CONTROLLED PLASMAFIRE SABER . .84950 ;;: NIG7K - HI FWXNE GATIVEION GENERAmR . . $34.50 w iil: PG5K - PlASMA LIGHTNING GLOBE 84 950 ~ == LHC2K- VISIBLESIMULATED3 COLOR LASER $44.50 ~ ~ HOD1K - HOMINGfTRACKING BEEPER TRANSMITTER .. 844.50 c;;2l LGU6K - 2.5MWHANDHELD VISIBLE LASER GUN 8249.50 !;Ii g: BTt3K:"" 250,000 VOLTTABLE mp TESLAC O IL 8249. 50 (I) IO G2K- ION RAY GUN, projec t energywithout wir es 81 29.95 I- TKE1 K- TELEKINETICENHANCER/ELECTRICMAN $79.50 VWPM7K- 3 MILE AUmTELEPHONETRANSMITTER .. 84 9. 50

ii! FMV1K -

77

B&K Pr ecision Banner Techn ical Books . . Beckm a n Ind ustrial . . . . . C&S Sales . CE I
eIE , . .. ,

123,180 Test Pro bes . . 225-228 Test Pro bes . .. . 195 181 182 183 Unicorn ... . , , . , . , , .

67 98 109 70

..... 3

.. 96

.... .. .. .... . 5 . .. 94

Viejo Publicat ions ...... .. .. . .. 90 WPT Pub lications .., 79

5i2

:E

W L1ST1D ..... IPG 70a::l ITM1DJAT3D W PSP4D (I) DNE10(I) LG U2Dc::r:: BLS1D -

ASSEMBLEDINOUR LABS INFIN ITY XMTR Listeninviaphone lines .. .. .81 99 .5 0 AVEG ENERAmR$7 4.50 INVISI BL EPAINFIELD BLAST W 100 ,000VO L TINTIMI DA m RUpm 20' . . .. $9950 AUmMATIC TELEPHONE RECORDINGDEVICE .$2450 PHASCR SO NICBLAST W A VEPI SmL .. . $8 9.50 ALL NEW 26"VIVIDCOLORED NEON STICK $7 4. 50 5 ro lMWVISIBLERED H eNeLASER GUN . .81995 0 100,00 WATT BLASTER DEFE N SEW AN D . .... $8 950

.. . . . , . ', '

.~,

.. 11 .25 . ... 62 .. 89

Xandi Electronics . ..-. . : '"" . . ... , 62

187

Chenesko Products. Command Pro ductions . .

176

Communica tions Spe cialists .. , . 79 CompuServe . . . Contact East . . . Cook's Institute D&D Electronics Dam ark Internationa l . . . , , CV3 . ..... 28 . 81 , 77 . .. 17 . . 28 . . 62 , . 37 . . 94 . 82 . . CV2 . . 12 . ... 56 , . , . , .. 29 . 7 ,. ..81 ... <J8 .99 , , ,89
. 100
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